Denny Hamlin breaks silence on Chris Gabehart’s JGR promotion and break up of six-year partnership
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin shares his view on losing his crew chief because of an important JGR promotion.
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Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart (Via IMAGO)
The 2024 NASCAR Cup season proved to be another heartbreak for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. His championship chase as it often has been come to an end in the penultimate round of the off-season owing his drop in performance as the post-season depend. Ahead of the next season he was hit with another heart break.
Chris Gabehart, who has been the No:11 crew chief for the last 6 years and an instrumental part in Denny Hamlin securing victories week in week out, has been promoted by Joe Gibbs. He will serve as the new competition director of the team from 2025. Hamlin will have a new crew chief in Chris Gayle who was leading Ty Gibbs’ team the last two years.
Denny Hamlin says Chris Gabehart’s departure as crew chief was a surprise with no warning.
— Alan Cavanna (@AlanCavanna) November 22, 2024
Interesting exchange with @ClaireBLang pic.twitter.com/LbL64qP62x
Hamlin knew about the change in a special meeting that called by JGR and was shocked learning about it. But the veteran knows the decision is best for the team overall as they have seen a drop in performance the last two seasons, with not winning enough races and young drivers like Gibbs needing more help.
It does, but again, they’ve gotta do what’s best for the company. And I think that they’re looking for an improvement on performance from the 54. And they’re looking for an overall performance for all the teams. Because we certainly haven’t won the amount of races as an organization as we should.
Denny Hamlin said via Alan Cavanna.
Ty Gibbs responds to losing his crew chief to Denny Hamlin
Unlike his veteran counterparts, Ty Gibbs doesn’t seem to that tense about losing his crew chief Gayle. He knows hie team has hit a performance plateau and needed change. Gibbs believes working with Gabehart and having a new chief, can make them better from the 2025 season and finally help him in winning that championship.
Stuff changes, I think my grandfather won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. So, I think stuff changes and it’s healthy and I think that will kind of all work its way when Gabehart is going to do this deal. So, I’m hopefully excited for the future and hopefully we run really great next year and win a lot of races.
Denny Hamlin said.
It seems the only driver that is going to lose something with the change is Denny Hamlin, but it’s a sacrifice he has to make for the whole team. It will be interesting to see how the change is going to affect the team as a whole in 2025 and beyond.
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Justin P Joy
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