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, leaving the helm of the No. 11 team he has led with driver Hamlin since 2019. . Chris Gayle will be crew chief of the No. 11 Toyota. moving forward, moving from the No. 54 JGR program where he previously worked with Ty Gibbs.
MORE: 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule
Together, Gabehart and Hamlin have won 22 races, propelling Hamlin to renewed success, including 13 victories during the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. The duo and their No. 11 team won three of the first 11 races in 2024, but finished the year without another visit to Victory Lane. Joe Gibbs Racing remained winless after Christopher Bell’s victory in late June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I was certainly shocked,” Hamlin said during a press briefing. “That’s all I’ll say.”
Hamlin was informed of the change earlier this week after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, with the news relayed to him during a 6 p.m. ET meeting at JGR headquarters. He admitted to being surprised to learn this way, but he understood that the team had chosen to take steps to improve its overall performance.
“The first few days were a shock, but I’m moving on,” Hamlin said. “There’s nothing I can do to change what happened, and JGR is doing what he thinks is best for him and I completely understand that. And if our entire program improves, car 11 will work better too, right? And I think all of us, all the teams, knew we had to have better results than we had at the end of the year. They feel like that. is the change they need (to make) to achieve this and that Team 11 will benefit from these changes.
Gayle joins Hamlin’s program after two years at the top of the box for Ty Gibbs in the Cup Series, but his resume goes back much further than that. Gayle has been a JGR crew chief since 2013, collecting 37 Xfinity Series victories 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 returned 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 a full-time driver in 2022.
In total, Hamlin and Gayle worked together in eight Xfinity Series races, winning the 2016 spring race at Charlotte Motor Speedway before placing second at Darlington Raceway later that year.
“He’s been with their company for 20 years and he’s certainly familiar with all the tools the teams use,” Hamlin said. “He’s only had rookie drivers for the most part in his Cup career, so I think it’ll be a welcome change for him, and a welcome change for me to go out there and try to building a new relationship and obviously winning a lot of races so I think it was probably the easiest choice, given that he was already part of the program.
Days after his 44th birthday, Hamlin knows he’s not getting any younger. But forging a new relationship with a crew chief at this point in his career — ahead of Hamlin’s 20th full year of racing in the NASCAR Cup Series — isn’t something he’s worried about.
“Someone my age, I think the easy answer would be, well, you’re just an old dog. You won’t learn new tricks. You don’t want to listen to anyone tell you to do things differently,” Hamlin said. “But I made it very clear to Chris Gayle that I didn’t want you to treat me with kid gloves. You have to tell me when I need to improve in something or if there is an area I am weak in as a driver. I need that feedback, and I think as long as he’s comfortable with that, we’ll have a successful relationship. because I’m very self-aware and I need someone to hold me accountable to be the best.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Gibbs, who has just concluded his second full-time campaign at Cup level. The 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 2022 Xfinity Series championship.
“Chris means everything to me,” Gibbs said. “He has been with me through most of the ups and downs of my life. I won a championship with him and about 11 races with him, so I really enjoyed my time working with him. I think he and Denny will be a great fit, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the future and improve the whole team as a whole.
Gabehart, meanwhile, is moving into a role where he will have leadership and influence over JGR’s four starters, which in 2025 will include Hamlin, Gibbs, Christopher Bell and newcomer Chase Briscoe.
“I think he has a really good leadership style,” Hamlin said. “I think probably if you’re gentle, it’s going to rub you the wrong way. I think if you have a strong mind and you’re willing to take constructive criticism, I think he’s a great leader when it comes to that. So generally speaking, I think he probably felt like changes needed to happen within the team and he couldn’t do it sitting in his team leader seat.
“I think it will really benefit us,” Gibbs said. “I think he has so much talent and so much wisdom; it’s just a good place for him. I can’t wait to see what happens and I’m excited to see that we’re making changes and improvements across JGR. So I hope 2025 will be a great year for all of us.
