Denny Hamlin reacts to surprising crew chief change after Chris Gabehart Joe Gibbs Racing promotion

Denny Hamlin was called into a meeting at Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters in Huntersville, North Carolina, at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Little did he know, that meeting would change his NASCAR career moving forward.

“I got called into another 6:00 meeting. I’m never going to JGR at 6:00 ever again. All those meetings are bad,” Hamlin told Claire B Lang on Friday, via motorsports reporter Alan Cavanna.

It was at that meeting where Hamlin learned that Chris Gabehart, his crew chief for the last six seasons, had been named competition director at JGR. That meant that Hamlin would have a new crew chief in 2025 — Chris Gayle, who previously sat atop the pit box for teammate Ty Gibbs.

Hamlin said he was surprised by the news, having no warning ahead of time that a change was imminent.

Denny Hamlin says Chris Gabehart’s departure as crew chief was a surprise with no warning.

Interesting exchange with @ClaireBLang pic.twitter.com/LbL64qP62x

— Alan Cavanna (@AlanCavanna) November 22, 2024

“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,” Hamlin said. “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 on working with Chris Gayle: ‘New perspectives are always good’

Hamlin and Gabehart were a highly successful partnership, winning 22 races together in six seasons. That is tied with Kyle Larson/Cliff Daniels for the most wins among Cup Series driver/crew chief duos in that span. Hamlin qualified for the Championship 4 three times and finished fifth or better in points in five of six seasons with Gabehart.

Gayle, who first started his JGR career as an engineer in 2003, has a resume which includes a pair of Cup Series victories, 37 Xfinity Series wins and the 2022 Xfinity Series championship. That Xfinity Series title came with Gibbs, and the two then joined the Cup Series together in 2023. Gibbs made the playoffs in 2024, earning eight top 5s, 12 top 10s, two pole awards and 417 laps led.

“What I like about Chris [Gayle] from what I’ve heard so far is that he’s willing to adapt to the way me and Chris [Gabehart] have done it. And also add his own flavor to it,” Hamlin said. “Which is good because I think new perspectives are always good.”