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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 would become the team’s competition director and that Chris Gayle would become Hamlin’s crew chief.
Gabehart had been Hamlin’s crew chief since the start of the 2019 season and the two had formed one of the most successful driver-crew chief pairings in NASCAR. Over the past six seasons, Hamlin won 23 races and never finished lower than eighth in the standings.
Hamlin won 13 races in their first two seasons together but finished fourth in the standings each season. The 44-year-old is the most successful driver in NASCAR Cup Series history without a Cup title. Hamlin has 54 wins and three Daytona 500 victories, but he’s only finished second in the points standings once.
In 2024, Hamlin won three times and had 18 top 10s but was eliminated from the playoffs in the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville. He ended up finishing eighth in the standings after an 11th-place finish at Phoenix.
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. He was Erik Jones’ crew chief on the No. 20 car from 2017-2020.
Gayle served as Gibbs’ crew chief in the Xfinity Series in 2022 as Gibbs won seven races and the Xfinity Series title. Jones has two Cup Series wins with Gayle as drivers have scored 37 wins in the Xfinity Series on Gayle’s teams. No crew chief for Gibbs for the 2025 season was announced.