Denny Hamlin Reveals Heartbreaking Response to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Unsure NASCAR State of affairs

Veteran NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin was left reeling after longtime crew chief Chris Gabehart was promoted to competitors director at Joe Gibbs Racing. This pressured Hamlin to start out over with a brand new crew chief forward of the 2025 season.

Hamlin realized of the sudden change on the finish of the 2024 season, and it shook him. He started to doubt how nicely he might adapt to a brand new crew chief at this stage of his profession. Talking in regards to the adjustments at Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin opened as much as Kevin Harvick on an episode of his podcast, “Completely happy Hour.”

Denny Hamlin Breaks Down Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief State of affairs

Contemporary off his win at Martinsville, Hamlin sat down with Harvick to speak in regards to the victory and the way the shift at JGR impacted him heading into 2025.

He mentioned, “Rapidly we had simply misplaced the sting of pace that we had. It actually was a bit irritating, um, you understand, whenever you don’t win in a span of a few 12 months. It looks like a decade in our racing phrases.

“However you understand I hadn’t misplaced confidence in something. However then we get to the offseason, you understand, Chris sits me down, says he’s leaving, he’s going to be the comp director, and at that time, you understand, I’m pondering I don’t wish to begin throughout—like I’m too outdated for this.”

Hamlin added, “I don’t … that is going to take time. I simply — I didn’t adore it, and I made it fairly public that I didn’t love the change. And I used to be actually frightened, sort of, about the place does it go from right here. And so at that time I had a call to make, and that call was to be knowledgeable.

“Do every little thing I can to, you understand, give Chris Gayle a good shot at it. Do one of the best I can to be one of the best driver I might be — to present him the right info, put within the work — and you understand, the connection has simply taken off.”

Gabehart, who had labored with Hamlin since 2019, performed a significant function in his success, guiding him to a number of wins. Shedding such a trusted determine so abruptly had the 44-year-old questioning if he might rebuild the identical chemistry. However these doubts didn’t final lengthy. New crew chief Chris Gayle has already led Hamlin to his first win at Martinsville in a decade.

JGR made the transfer as a part of a broader effort to enhance efficiency throughout the board — particularly amongst its youthful drivers.