Denny Hamlin will have a new crew chief as he continues his quest for a NASCAR Cup Series title.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced Friday that Chris Gabehart will become the team’s director of competition and Chris Gayle will become Hamlin’s crew chief.
Gabehart has been Hamlin’s crew chief since the start of the 2019 season, and the two have formed one of the most successful driver-crew chief pairings in NASCAR. Over the past six seasons, Hamlin has won 23 races and never finished lower than eighth in the standings.
Hamlin won 13 races in his first two seasons, but finished fourth in each season. The 44-year-old is the winningest driver in NASCAR Cup Series history without a Cup title. Hamlin has 54 wins and three Daytona 500 wins, but has only finished second in points once.
In 2024, Hamlin won three times and had 18 top 10s, but fell out of the playoffs in the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville. After 11th place in Phoenix, he ended up eighth overall.
Gayle has been Ty Gibbs’ crew chief at JGR for the past two seasons. A longtime JGR crew chief, Gayle has worked with the team in various capacities since the 2013 season. From 2017-2020, he was Erik Jones’ crew chief in the #20 car.
Gayle served as Gibbs’ Xfinity Series crew chief in 2022 as Gibbs won seven races and captured the Xfinity Series title. Jones has two Cup Series wins with Gayle, as drivers have posted 37 Xfinity Series wins with Gayle teams. No Gibbs crew chief has been announced for the 2025 season.