By ESPN | Created at 2024-11-22 16:06:05 | Updated at 2024-11-22 21:32:16
5 hours ago
Associated Press
Nov 22, 2024, 10:04 AM ET
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Denny Hamlin will have a new crew chief in 2025.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced Friday that Chris Gayle will serve as the crew chief for Hamlin's No. 11 team, with Chris Gabehart being promoted to competition director. Gayle has served as crew chief for JGR's No. 54 team for the past two seasons.
The new crew chief for the No. 54 team will be announced at a later date.
Both Gabehart and Gayle have been mainstays at JGR for a number of years, and both led their teams to the Cup Series Playoffs and top-15 finishes in the overall point standings.
"We have a lot of pride in the depth of talent we have throughout our organization," JGR owner and founder Joe Gibbs said. "Chris Gabehart will now be an asset across all four of our teams as competition director and we thought it was important to have him transition into his new role immediately. Chris Gayle will bring his own perspective to the 11 team while also maintaining the consistency and continuity they have developed with Denny (Hamlin) over the past several years."
Gayle has won two Cup Series races, 37 Xfinity Series wins and the 2022 Xfinity Series championship since joining JGR as an engineer in 2003.
Gayle moved into a crew chief position in 2013 with JGR's Xfinity Series team. In four seasons, his teams won 20 races. He spent 2017 as a crew chief for Furniture Row Racing before rejoining JGR in 2018 in the Cup Series with Erik Jones. He led the young driver to his first career win in 2018 and followed that up with a Southern 500 victory in 2019.
Gayle guided JGR's No. 54 Xfinity Series team and won 10 races with four different drivers.
Gayle also led Ty Gibbs to seven victories and the series championship before they moved to the Cup Series in 2023. Last season, Gayle oversaw the No. 54 team's growth in Gibbs' second season, earning eight top-five finishes, 12 top-10s and two pole awards while leading 417 laps.
"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."
Gabehart joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2012 as a race engineer before transitioning to crew chief with the team's NASCAR Xfinity Series program from 2016-18.
He spent three seasons there, earning nine victories with multiple drivers.
Gabehart was promoted to be the crew chief of the No. 11 team in 2019. The Hamlin-Gabehart combination proved to be a threat immediately by winning the 2019 Daytona 500 on the way to three consecutive Championship 4 appearances. Gabehart and Hamlin won 22 races in six years, including two Daytona 500s.
"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. "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."
Bullish on Bullins
RFK Racing announced that veteran crew chief Jeremy Bullins has joined the organization, reuniting with driver/co-owner Brad Keselowski to lead the No. 6 team beginning in 2025.
Bullins, who has been a part of 31 wins, joins RFK after a decade-plus stint in the Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing and Team Penske, working with drivers Ryan Blaney, Keselowski, Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton.
"I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with BK again, this time in the iconic No. 6 car with RFK," Bullins said. "We were able to accomplish a lot as a team previously, but we had a couple of unfinished goals like a Daytona 500 win and a championship together and I'm ecstatic we get the opportunity to compete together again."
He most recently led the No. 21 team, earning the organization's famed 100th victory at Daytona this summer.
Previously, he was paired with Cindric and the No. 2 team, which came on the heels of Keselowski's departure from Team Penske at the end of the 2021 campaign. Together, Bullins and Keselowski finished second in the 2020 points standings, and won five races in the Cup Series in the 2020-21 seasons.
