Were you shocked by Friday morning’s announcement that Chris Gabehart, who has served as the crew chief for Denny Hamlin over the last six seasons, will be moving on to the role of Competition Director for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025? If so, you’re not alone. Hamlin, who has collected 22 of his 54 NASCAR Cup Series wins with Gabehart atop his pit box was equally shocked.
RELATED: Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs to Have New Crew Chiefs in 2025; Gabehart Named JGR Competition Director
In a media availability ahead of Friday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Awards Ceremony, Hamlin explained that he found out about the change in a 6 PM ET meeting, which was called by Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin, who found out about an L2 penalty that would be assessed to his No. 11 team during the 2024 season in a 6 PM ET meeting with JGR and TRD, says he has learned to stay away from after-hours meetings at the team’s Huntersville race shop.
“I got called into another 6 o’clock meeting. I’m never going to JGR at 6 o’clock, ever again, by the way. All of those meetings are bad,” Hamlin quipped.
When asked by Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports if he was hurt by the decision to move Chris Gabehart away from being his crew chief, Hamlin refused to expand on things further than saying he was surprised.
“I mean, I certainly was shocked by it. That’s all I’ll say,” Hamlin said.
While Hamlin was shocked by the personnel moves at Joe Gibbs Racing, he understands why the move was made, as the organization only won six races in 2024 (three with him, and three with Christopher Bell), and none of the team’s four cars made it into the Championship 4.
“It does [shock me], but again, they’ve got to do what is best for the company,” Hamlin explained. “I think they’re looking for an improvement on performance on the [No.] 54, and they’re looking for an overall performance for all of the teams because we certainly hadn’t won the amount of races as an organization as we should.”
Ultimately, Hamlin feels Gabehart saw some areas of weakness within the walls of JGR, and there was only one way for the veteran crew chief to take charge and fix them.
“He probably felt like there were changes that needed to happen within the team that he couldn’t do from sitting in his crew chief seat,” Hamlin said.
The pain that Hamlin is trying to mask in losing Gabehart as a crew chief is understandable. At 44 years old, Hamlin is running out of time to snag his elusive first NASCAR Cup Series championship, and while paired with Gabehart, Hamlin has been in the conversation for the last six seasons. Now, he’ll be paired with Chris Gayle, who is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series and 37-time NASCAR Xfinity Series race-winning crew chief. But he’s not Chris Gabehart.
