NASCAR insider brands Chris Gabehart’s JGR promotion “a huge gut punch” for Denny Hamlin
The decision from JGR to replace Denny Hamlin’s crew chief for the 2025 season is going to change how the No:11 team perform next year.
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Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart (Via IMAGO)
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin was determined to come back strong in the 2025 season after a massive disappointment of a performance in the 2024 Cup playoffs. But his preparations are going to drastically change, owing to JGR’s decision to change his crew chief Chris Gabehart. He was promoted to the role of competition director of the team.
Chris Gayle, who has been working with Ty Gibbs the last two season will take over the No:11 team next season. Senior NASCAR Journalist Jeff Gluck shared his verdict on the decision via The Teardown podcast. He pointed out that Denny Hamlin had dreamed of finishing his career with the Gabehart as his crew chief as they have had the opportunity secure more wins and maybe a championship as both of them were at their peak.
You’ve heard Denny say on his podcast that Chris Gabehart is the last crew chief he’ll ever have because he intended to finish his career with him…There’s a lot of just like man, this guy was at the top of his game crew chief wise and had a driver who still had a couple years left where they could win. And he obviously had stated goals of trying to get to 60 wins, try to get a championship.
Jeff Gluck said via The Teardown podcast.
While further talking about it, he pointed out that the decision from JGR can be seen as a huge gut punch and asserted the adjustment period in the next-gen era with the new crew chief is going to be a huge challenge for Hamlin. He believes the No:11 teams championship dream has gotten harder with the decision.
So, it’s like man, I just think for Denny it’s gotta be a huge gut punch because now you’re looking at this and going man, this is gonna be really, really tough. This journey that I’ve been on just got a whole lot harder.
Jeff Gluck added.
New crew chief gives his verdict on leading Denny Hamlin’s team
The new No:11 Toyota team crew chief Chris Gayle talked about the opportunity ahead of his with the new move. He pointed out that it’s a great honor for him to work with Hamlin and his crew and believes he was hired to the role due to his capability to make the team better.
It absolutely is a great honor and a great opportunity for me. It just all came down last week when we knew that Chris Gabehart was moving to a competition director role, and it obviously opened up a position with the 11 team. And I think it really just came down to, who do we have, who can we get, and what makes our race teams the strongest overall?
Chris Gayle said.
The start of the 2025 season would be a massive challenge for Hamlin and his crew chief to adjust with the new normal. There will be some issues, but being the great profession Hamlin is, the team will get back to winning ways soon.
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Justin P Joy
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