Joe Gibbs Racing announces massive change to Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs race teams

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Friday that both Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs will have new crew chiefs for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Chris Gayle, crew chief of the No. 54 team and Gibbs, will now serve in the same position for the No. 11 team and Hamlin. Gibbs’ new crew chief has yet to be announced. Chris Gabehart, Hamlin’s crew chief since 2019, is transitioning to the role of competition director at JGR.

🚨 NEWS 🚨

Joe Gibbs Racing has promoted Chris Gabehart to Competition Director.
 
Chris Gayle will become crew chief for @dennyhamlin and the 11 team.
 
Crew Chief for the 54 team will be announced at a later date. pic.twitter.com/iooRWcmzJb

— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) November 22, 2024

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, per Jonathan Fjeld of The Racing Experts. Hamlin qualified for the Championship 4 three times and finished fifth or better in points in five of six seasons with Gabehart.

Denny Hamlin, Chris Gabehart partnership comes to an end

“I am very thankful for the opportunities that Joe Gibbs Racing has continued to provide me for my entire tenure here and cannot say enough about how much I have enjoyed and appreciated my time with Denny and the entire 11 team,” Gabehart said in a statement. “They have all taught me so much about not only how to race at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series, but also, how to lead a great group of talented professionals.

“In my next opportunity, I am as excited as I have ever been to work with all our talented drivers, crew chiefs, teams and partners to help focus all our efforts towards making 2025 one of the best seasons Joe Gibbs Racing has ever had.”

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.

“Denny is obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Gayle said. “I’m looking forward to working with him and the guys on the No. 11 team. He and Gabehart have established an incredible culture that is a very good barometer for our other drivers and teams to strive to match. I have all the confidence in the world we can hit the ground running and continue the success that this group is accustomed to in 2025.”