Denny Hamlin did not ask for a crew chief change for his No. 11 team and didn’t see it coming when Joe Gibbs Racing made that decision.
“I certainly was shocked by it,” Hamlin said Friday before the NASCAR Awards banquet.
Hamlin was informed the week after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10 that he would have a new team leader beginning in 2025. He did not specify the day but said it was early in the week.
The news was made public earlier today that Chris Gabehart (pictured at right, above, with Hamlin) has been promoted from the crew chief role to competition director with the organization and Hamlin will work with Chris Gayle.
Hamlin joked that he would never attend a 6:00pm meeting at JGR again because it always brings bad news. This reference goes back to August, when he was informed in a meeting with Toyota that the manufacturer’s engine infraction would result in a penalty from NASCAR.
“They’ve got to do what’s best for the company,” Hamlin said. “I think they’re looking for an improvement [in] performance on the [No.] 54, and they’re looking for an overall performance for all the team because we certainly hadn’t won the amount of races as an organization that we should.”
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Ty Gibbs is winless through two seasons at the Cup Series level. He earned his first postseason berth in 2024 and finished 15th in the standings.
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers combined for six victories. However, those victories came from Christopher Bell (three) and Hamlin (three). Martin Truex Jr. was winless in his final season as a full-time driver.
The organization went winless through the final 18 races of the season.
Hamlin and Gabehart won 22 races together in their six seasons together, including two triumphs in the Daytona 500 and the Southern 500. The team also qualified for a Championship 4 berth in three consecutive seasons, 2019-21. An eighth-place finish in the 2024 championship standings was the only time the duo did not end the year in the top five.
“I’m certainly very grateful for everything that he helped build with the [No.] 11 car and the success that we had,” Hamlin said. “I’m happy for him and his promotion. I’m happy for JGR and hopefully what it will bring to everyone else.”
Gayle moves to the No. 11 team from the No. 54 crew. He was paired with Ty Gibbs for the last two Cup Series seasons but has worked with Hamlin before in the Xfinity Series. During his tenure in that garage, Gayle worked with various Gibbs drivers, with Hamlin driving one of his race cars in eight races between 2015 and 2021. They won once together, but Hamlin doesn’t know Gayle that well.
“But anytime JGR has an employee for 20 years, they believe in him,” Hamlin said. “He probably knows me more than I know him, truthfully. The teams obviously all work together very closely, and when we debrief every Monday, and I’m giving advice on where we should steer the ship, he’s taking notes. So, I think it probably will bear quicker results than if I had to start over with someone younger and fresher.”
Gayle will be the sixth crew chief Hamlin has worked with in his career, which goes into its 20th season in 2025. Hamlin won races with each of his previous five crew chiefs; the most wins came in his pairing with Gabehart.
“I’m motivated,” Hamlin said of the future. “I’m certainly motivated at this point. It’s just human nature. When [Bill] Belichick and [Tom] Brady split, it was like, ‘Well, who was it? Was it him? Or was it you?’ So, I think you’re always going to have that motivation of wanting to show it was you.”