To the surprise of many, including Denny Hamlin, last week the Joe Gibbs Racing team unveiled several significant changes for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Season. Chris Gayle has been promoted to lead the #11 team, while Hamlin’s previous crew chief, Chris Gabehart, is set to ascend to a broader role as the organization’s competition director.
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The team has stated that Gabehart’s new role is intended to enhance the team’s overall performance, Hamlin’s new crew chief, Gayle, recently shed some light on the motivations behind the reshuffle. He explained, “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, right?”
“I think that if you look at Denny’s perspective… He’s got fewer years in front of him when he has behind him so he doesn’t want to have to have her a complete rebuild.”
“Moving me over to the #11 team and kind of filling that role that Gabehart had in keeping the rest of the team intact allows that to happen right. Allows continuity to be there where I understand how JGR works and I understand the processes of the #11 team.. and how all the tools work,” he continued.
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Joe Gibbs has hailed Gabehart as a key asset for all four teams, emphasizing the importance of transitioning him immediately into his new role as competition director. Moreover, he appeared optimistic that Gayle would inject his unique perspective into the #11 team while preserving the consistency and continuity that has been built with Hamlin over recent years.
Meanwhile, Gayle’s shift from leading the #54 team to the #11 team has left a vacancy for the crew chief position of Ty Gibbs, an announcement for which is expected soon.
Has Gayle previously worked with Hamlin?
While Gayle has spent the last few seasons at the helm of Ty Gibbs’s team, his history with Joe Gibbs Racing stretches back much further. He joined the organization in 2003 as an engineer before ascending to the role of crew chief in 2013, amassing 37 victories in the Xfinity Series with drivers such as Gibbs, Kyle Busch, and Erik Jones.
2025 won’t be Gayle’s first rodeo with Hamlin either. He has previously teamed up with the #11 driver for eight Xfinity races, securing a victory in 2016 and a runner-up finish the following year.
Additionally, Gayle has also contributed to Jones’ efforts in the Cup Series, winning two races in over four seasons. After these stints, he returned to NASCAR’s second tier, leading the #54 team in 2021 with drivers including Ty Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., and John Hunter Nemechek, before Ty Gibbs transitioned to the Cup Series in 2022.
