Chris Gabehart has served as the crew chief for Denny Hamlin for the past six seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series. For 2025, he’ll move to the role of competition director at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hear from Denny Hamlin and others below.
Chris Gayle will assume the position for crew chief for the No. 11 team. Gayle previously worked as the crew chief for Ty Gibbs No. 54 team. The No. 54 crew chief has not been announced.
Denny Hamlin was surprised to hear this news…
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Chris Gayle comments
“Denny is obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” said Gayle in the team release.
“I’m looking forward to working with him and the guys on the No. 11 team. He and Gabehart have established an incredible culture that is a very good barometer for our other drivers and teams to strive to match.”
Gayle added, “I have all the confidence in the world we can hit the ground running and continue the success that this group is accustomed to in 2025.”
Gayle has collected 37 Xfinity Series wins as a crew chief as well as the 2022 Xfinity title. He started working with JGR in 2003.
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Chris Gabehart comments
“I am very thankful for the opportunities that Joe Gibbs Racing has continued to provide me for my entire tenure here and cannot say enough about how much I have enjoyed and appreciated my time with Denny and the entire 11 team,” said Gabehart.
“They have all taught me so much about not only how to race at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series, but also, how to lead a great group of talented professionals.”
Gabehart concluded, “In my next opportunity, I am as excited as I have ever been to work with all our talented drivers, crew chiefs, teams and partners to help focus all our efforts towards making 2025 one of the best seasons Joe Gibbs Racing has ever had.”
Gabehart first joined JGR in 2012. In 2019, he was promoted to Hamlin’s crew chief and they went on to collect 22 Cup Series wins together.
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Team owner Joe Gibbs comments
“We have a lot of pride in the depth of talent we have throughout our organization,” said Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Chris Gabehart will now be an asset across all four of our teams as competition director and we thought it was important to have him transition into his new role immediately. Chris Gayle will bring his own perspective to the 11 team while also maintaining the consistency and continuity they have developed with Denny (Hamlin) over the past several years.”
Gibbs added, “While we are still in the process of finalizing the new crew chief for the 54 team, we believe all these moves ultimately make our team stronger as we prepare for 2025.”
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Denny Hamlin explains how he heard of the news
“I got called into anther 6-o-clock meeting,” Denny Hamlin explains when he was told of the change.
“I’m never going to JGR at 6-o-clock ever again. All those meetings are bad.”
“I does,” Hamlin responds on of he was surprised. “But, they gotta do what’s best for the company. And, I think they’re looking for an improvement on performance with the No. 54.”
“And, they’re looking for an overall performance, for all the teams. We certainly haven’t won the amount of races as an organization as what we should have.”
“I certainly was shocked by it,” Hamlin later told Bob Pockrass.
