Chase Briscoe could’ve been a Wood Brothers Racing driver, remaining in the Ford camp after the end of 2024. With Stewart-Haas Racing packing their bags up, Briscoe was the first choice for the WBR team. However, Joe Gibbs Racing played a party spoiler and stole the SHR driver to replace Martin Truex Jr.

It was indeed a big opportunity for Briscoe to join a powerhouse NASCAR team, and he simply couldn’t refuse the offer. However, it looks like WBR President Jon Wood isn’t over the fact that the driver snubbed the proposal to join the Toyota camp. Moreover, he wasn’t entirely convinced by Briscoe’s admission that JGR didn’t ask him to bring any sponsorship money with him.

This indirectly signals that Wood Brother Racing put conditions on the table before signing him. But, the future JGR driver himself cleared the air publicly with his reply on a Reddit thread.

There’s no beef between Chase Briscoe and Wood Brothers Racing

Financial backing and sponsorship money do play a vital role in drivers switching teams. JGR wasn’t sure about making their move on Briscoe, assuming that Bass Pro Shops would cut its ties with the team after MTJ’s departure. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and they could easily aid the arrival of their new driver.

Chase Briscoe was very appreciative of this gesture. So much so that he went on to claim that JGR was the only team that didn’t ask to bring in the sponsorship money. In response to this, Jon Wood shared their side of the story in an interview with Jeff Gluck, suggesting that Briscoe’s claims weren’t true, they went on to sign Josh Berry, who doesn’t have real sponsorship backing.

“There was some misconception when Chase Briscoe did his presser (at Joe Gibbs Racing), and he mentioned they were the only team who didn’t ask him to bring money. That’s not true. I don’t know if he forgot or he imagined a piece that didn’t happen. And this isn’t me being critical; maybe he just thought we did,” Wood said.

Instead of fueling the fire and stirring up a new controversy, Chase Briscoe came out publicly before this information was blown out of proportion. “Pretty much what happen,” Briscoe replied on a Reddit thread that mentioned Jeff Gluck’s interview with Jon Wood. However, WBR wasn’t able to keep Rodney Childers and Josh Berry together despite the driver’s wish. And Wood’s explanation of the matter certainly made things complicated.

Does Wood Brothers Racing operate independently?

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Now, technical alliances are nothing new in NASCAR, and WBR has a similar partnership with Team Penske. This does allow them to make use of the resources of the championship-winning team. However, the Penske camp seems to influence the decision-making process; this was evident when Rodney Childers wasn’t able to come on board with Berry for the No. 21 team.

The team president sharing his take stated, “There are some really, really, really good people at Team Penske. And if we pull from internally there for a crew chief, there is no reason Josh can’t run as good as the 12, the 2 and the 22.” This was indeed strange, as during the interview he claimed, “Some people still think Roger owns our charter or owns part of it. We own that thing entirely.”

So it’s clear that Team Penske does have a say in making important calls at WBR. This makes many wonder if the executive branch at WBR works independently or if they are just an extension of Penske in NASCAR.