CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Denny Hamlin said Friday he was “shocked” by the news that he will have a new crew chief for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced Friday morning ahead of the NASCAR Awards banquet that Chris Gabehart will become the team‘s competition director, vacating the head of the No. 11 team he had led with driver Hamlin since 2019. Chris Gayle will crew chief the No. 11 Toyota moving forward, moving from the No. 54 JGR program where he previously worked with Ty Gibbs.
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Together, Gabehart and Hamlin won 22 races, propelling Hamlin to a resurgence of success, including 13 victories across the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. The duo and their No. 11 team won three of the first 11 races in 2024 but ended the year without another visit back to Victory Lane. Joe Gibbs Racing went winless after Christopher Bell‘s victory in late June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I certainly was shocked,” Hamlin said in a media availability. “That‘s all I‘ll say.”
Hamlin was notified of the change early in the week after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, the news delivered to him in a 6 p.m. ET meeting at JGR headquarters. He admitted he was surprised to learn that way, but understood the team opted to make a move to improve its overall performance.
“The first few days was a shock, but I‘m moving on,” Hamlin said. “There‘s nothing I can do to change anything that happened, and JGR is doing what they feel is best for them and I totally understand that. And if all of our program gets better, the 11 car‘s gonna run better as well, right? And I think that all of us, all the teams, knew that we needed to have better results than what we had at the end of the year. They feel like this is the change they need to [make] to get that and that the 11 team will benefit from those changes.”
Gayle joins Hamlin‘s program after two years atop the box for Ty Gibbs in the Cup Series, but his resume extends much farther back than that. Gayle has served as a JGR crew chief since 2013, collecting 37 Xfinity Series wins with drivers like Gibbs (11), Kyle Busch (20) and Erik Jones. In 2017, Gayle followed Jones to the Cup Series, where they won two races in four seasons. He then went back to Xfinity to lead the No. 54 team in 2021 with Busch, Ty Dillon, Gibbs, Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek before Gibbs became the full-time driver in 2022.
In total, Hamlin and Gayle have worked together in eight Xfinity Series races, winning the spring 2016 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway before a runner-up effort at Darlington Raceway later that year.
“He’s been with the company for 20 years, and certainly, he knows all the tools that the teams use,” Hamlin said. “He‘s really just had rookie drivers for the most part in the course of his Cup career, so I think it’s going to be a welcomed change for him, and welcomed change for me to go out there and try to build a new relationship and obviously win a lot of races. So I think it probably was the easiest choice, considering he was part of the program already.”
Days after his 44th birthday, Hamlin knows he isn‘t getting any younger. But forging a new relationship with a crew chief at this stage of his career — ahead of Hamlin‘s 20th full year of NASCAR Cup Series racing — isn‘t something that worries him.
“Someone of my age, I think the easy answer would say, well, you’re just you’re an old dog. You’re not going to learn new tricks. You’re not going to want to listen to anyone to tell you to do it differently,” Hamlin said. “But I’ve made it very clear to Chris Gayle that I do not want you treating me with kid gloves. You need to tell me when I need to improve in something, or there’s an area that I’m weak in as a driver. I need that feedback, and I think that as long as he’s comfortable with that, we’re going to have a successful relationship. because I am very self-aware and I need someone to hold me accountable to be the best out there.”
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On the opposite end is Gibbs, who just concluded his second full-time campaign at the Cup level. A crew chief for the No. 54 team has not been announced, but Gibbs admitted he will miss working with Gayle, with whom he won the Xfinity Series championship in 2022.
“Chris has meant the world to me,” Gibbs said. “He‘s been with me through most of the ups and downs of my life. I‘ve won a championship with him and (11) or so races with him, so I‘ve really appreciated the time I‘ve gotten to work with him. I think him and Denny will be a great fit, and I‘m excited to see what happens going forward and improving the whole team as a whole organization.”
Gabehart, meanwhile, transitions into a role where he will have leadership and influence over all four of JGR‘s entries, which in 2025 will include Hamlin, Gibbs, Christopher Bell and newcomer Chase Briscoe.
“I think he’s got a very good leadership style to him,” Hamlin said. “I think that probably if you’re soft, it’s going to rub you the wrong way. I think if you’re strong-minded and you are willing to take constructive criticism, I think he’s a great leader as far as that’s concerned. So, generally speaking, I think he probably felt like there were changes that needed to happen within the team that he couldn’t do from sitting in his crew-chief seat.”
“I think it will really benefit us,” Gibbs said. “I think he has so many talents and so much wisdom; it‘s just a good spot for him to be in. I‘m excited to see what happens and I‘m excited to see we‘re making changes and making improvements on all of JGR. So hopefully 2025 will be a great year for all of us.”