Driver and crew chief relationships are very special in motorsport. Over the radio, for hours, drivers and crew chiefs share the emotional highs and lows of the race. Joe Gibbs Racing recently saw one of their crew-chief driver combinations part ways as a new era beckons for the team. Denny Hamlin will see a change in guard as his crew chief settles into his new role.

Chris Gabehart has been the #11 crew chief for 6 years and now looks to play a different role in helping Joe Gibs Racing get back to its glory days. However, this leaves many questions unanswered as the move does come with an element of shock. What exactly are the changes and what does the future hold for the driver?

Denny Hamlin’s partner in success gets promoted to Competition Director

For Denny Hamlin, the most shocking news of the season might just be the loss of Chris Gabehart. Together, they won 11 races, including two Daytona 500s. Power-duo much? However, Hamlin sees a new face step into his team as he strives towards his elusive Cup Series title.

Joe Gibbs explains the move: “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 perspective to the 11 team while also maintaining the consistency and continuity they have developed with Denny (Hamlin) over the past several years.

Joe Gibbs also noted that #54 Ty Gibbs is still without a crew chief after he saw his 2-year partnership with Chris Gayle end rather abruptly. “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,” said Gibbs.

Gabehart, who is now embracing a new role of Competition Director, has been with JGR since 2012 and became a crew chief in 2016. He finally started working with Hamlin in 2019. Since then, he has led the team to three consecutive Championship 4 appearances. “I cannot say enough about how much I have enjoyed and appreciated my time with Denny and the entire 11 team,” said Gabehart.

“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,” he said.

But, he knows it’s a hard move, especially with a veteran like Denny. On SiriusxmNASCAR, he said, “We have helped build together on the 11 cars in the last six years. And, you have to realize that for me that’s not just a conversation with Denny because Denny and I, without this team, would be just two guys out on a walk and we wouldn’t win anything. It’s the culture that we built inside the entire team – car chiefs, engineers, mechanics, truck drivers, pit crew. We became a very tight-knit group that leaned on each other a lot. So, yeah the conversation with Denny was a tough one. “

In the interview at SiriusxmNASCAR, he added that it is equally tough for him to say that he might have called his last race, attributing it to the transition to the role of Competition Director.

“It’s still tough for me to admit to come off the box and say that maybe I have called my last race. I am not gonna say I have but perhaps I have. And I can certainly tell you that for the first time in 32 years now, going back to my childhood, when we go to Daytona – the next race, I would not be focused on a singular door number. That’s hard for me. That’s a very different role,” he said.

While Gabehart embraced his shift in responsibility, Hamlin seemed to be out of the loop with JGR’s decisions.

Denny Hamlin left in the dark as JGR shuffled personnel

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At a press conference, Hamlin said on the news of Gabehart leaving, “I certainly was shocked. That’s all I’ll say.” Hamlin achieved considerable success with Gabehart despite a disappointing end to the 2024 season, but he sees hope in Gayle and the future of JGR.

“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,” Hamlin said.

When Hamlin was asked about the qualities of Chris Gayle that will help him next year, he said, “Honestly, I don’t know him that well.”

But, he also said, “What I like about Chris and what I have heard so far is that he’s willing to adapt to the way me and Chris have done it and also add his flavor to it, which is good.”

From 2013 to 2016, Chris has worked for Joe Gibbs Racing as crew chief. Then, he moved to Furniture Row Racing for a season in 2017. However, he returned to JGR after that and worked with Erik Jones. With Jones, he has a few wins to his name. He has also led the JGR program to 10 Xfinity Series wins in 2021. And, that he could achieve with 4 different drivers. In fact, in the following season, he led Ty Gibbs to the Xfinity Series championship, — seven race wins with the number 54 team. In this season, he led Gibbs to top 5 finishes and quite a few finishes in the top 10.

About working with Hamlin, Gayle said, “Denny is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. 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. I have all the confidence in the world, that we can hit the ground running and continue the success that this group is accustomed to in 2025.”

Do you think Chris Gayle can power Denny Hamlin to his maiden Cup Series Championship?