Denny Hamlin to get new crew chief for 2025 season - ESPN

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.