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Kevin Harvick compares Denny Hamlin situation to Kyle Busch, predicts tension

Stephen Samraby:Steve Samra02/01/25

SamraSource

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch
© Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Harvick believes Denny Hamlin’s 2025 could mirror the end of Kyle Busch’s time at Joe Gibbs Racing, as there’s a ton of change surrounding the No. 11 team.

For starters, FedEx has ended their partnership with the No. 11 Toyota, similar to how M&M’s decided not to sponsor Busch towards the end of his time with JGR. Additionally, Hamlin’s longtime crew chief Chris Gabehart moved into a new position with the organization, and Chris Gayle will be stepping into the role.

Coupled with his duties as a team owner at 23XI Racing, Harvick believes it could be the perfect storm for a contentious season for Hamlin, if he doesn’t get off to a blazing start in 2025.

“I think it’s just like the Kyle Busch scenario. It has to start really good. The first six weeks have to go good,” Harvick stated, regarding Hamlin via Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “I think that he will be very determined to make it all go away by performing well, and [he’ll] be very engaged at the beginning. I think that I said this on the first show, having Rodney Childers and knowing that he was going to do things that I liked, and we had this system and had it built and it just functioned is exactly where he and Chris Gabehart part were. Now, you take that out, how does that go? … You’re going to have to go through all that.

“He’s going to have to be more engaged, which is going to take away time from 23XI, and the things that he has to do over there. The things that happen, and all those things outside of his team, because now he’s — in order for this to work as good as it did with Gabe Gabehart with the No. 11, he’s going to have to take a big chunk of that time to put into the No. 11 team, because it just functioned. That’s what allowed me, when I was with Rodney, to go do all these other things. With Chris, that allowed Denny to go do all these other things. He was good with it, because their system worked great.

“So, if that doesn’t happen pretty quick, you’re going to see some tension build really quickly around this whole scenario.”

Still, Harvick isn’t convinced it’ll all come to a head with Hamlin at JGR, similar to how it did for Busch, due to the No. 11 wheelman’s love for the team and the sport as a whole. Regardless, it may all come down to how he clicks with his new crew chief in Gayle.

“The good thing about Denny Hamlin is he loves the sport and he loves everything about it,” Harvick added. “He puts his whole life into what he does, and I feel like it could be [Kyle Busch] 2.0 if it doesn’t start well, just because he has so many other options at his side to really focus on. But this sport is crazy, and it could go in 100 different directions.

“I think, with the respect that he has for Joe Gibbs, and his scenario with the No. 11 car and everything, he’s going to put a ton of work into it. It’s just a matter if it clicks. We have so many of those scenarios that it’s just a matter of if it clicks for a driver and crew chief, and I think it could go a number of different ways in several scenarios with several of these situations.”

All told, FOX’s Bob Pockrass joined the show as well, and he doesn’t see Hamlin going the way of Busch, thinking his distractions off the track will actually be a benefit if he begins to struggle: “I don’t think so. I don’t think so because I think that, I think Denny rides the wave a little bit better than Kyle Busch does,” Pockrass stated.

“… “This is the good thing about Denny having all these other things going on. He can have the distraction from if he struggles a little bit week-to-week, that maybe it doesn’t gnaw at him as much.”

Alas, Denny Hamlin’s performance in 2025 will be pivotal from the jump, as he searches for his first NASCAR Cup Series title. Kevin Harvick is just delivering a word of warning, believing that some tension could build throughout the season at Joe Gibbs Racing.