Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announced a new role and new team for crew chiefs Chris Gabehart and Chris Gayle, respectively, for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
For the upcoming season, Gabehart will be assuming the role as JGR’s Competition Director while Gayle will shift from JGR’s No. 54 Toyota Camry XSE team to the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE team, where he will be paired with veteran driver Denny Hamlin.
The news comes as both Gabehart and Gayle are coming off their respective roles as crew chiefs for the Nos. 11 and 54 JGR Toyota teams, the latter of which is piloted by driver Ty Gibbs, in the Cup Series.
“We have a lot of pride in the depth of talent we have throughout our organization,” Joe Gibbs, owner and founder of Joe Gibbs Racing, 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. While we are still in the process of finalizing the new crew chief for the 54 team, we believe all these moves ultimately make our team stronger as we prepare for 2025.”
Gabehart, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, who graduated from Purdue University with a mechanical engineering degree, made his crew chief debut in the Xfinity Series in 2016, where he was paired with Erik Jones at JGR. The following season, he made his Cup Series crew chief debut on an interim role with Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Toyota team at Richmond Raceway, where Hamlin finished fifth.
After accumulating a total of nine Xfinity victories between 2016 to 2018, Gabehart was promoted to the Cup Series to serve as a full-time crew chief for Hamlin and the No. 11 team in 2019. Commencing his Cup crew chief career with his first career victory in the 61st running of the Daytona 500, Gabehart and Hamlin would accumulate a total of 22 victories through 209 events (2019-24). In addition to making the Playoffs throughout their six-year journey, they also made the Championship 4 round from 2019 to 2021, where they finished as high as third place in the final standings during the latter season.
Through 209 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Gabehart has also recorded 11 poles, 90 top-five results and 120 top-10 results, all while working atop the No. 11 JGR Toyota pit box and paired with Hamlin as he prepares to etch a new chapter with his new role in 2025.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Gayle, a native of Little Rock Arkansas, and a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Mechanical Engineering degree, made his crew chief debut in 2013, where he was paired with Elliott Sadler at JGR in the Xfinity Series. During the season, he made his Cup crew chief debut with Sadler at Kansas Speedway, where Sadler finished 40th.
Four years later, Gayle became a full-time crew chief in the Cup Series for the first time, where he was paired with Erik Jones at Furniture Row Racing. After notching the 2017 Rookie-of-the-Year title, both Gayle and Jones moved back to Joe Gibbs Racing and notched their first Cup career victory at Daytona International Speedway in July. Gayle would continue to work with Jones over the next two seasons, where they won the 2019 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, before he transitioned back down to the Xfinity Series during his next two years.
After capturing the 2022 Xfinity Series championship with Ty Gibbs, Gayle moved back up to the Cup Series and continued to work with Gibbs as his crew chief in 2023, where Gibbs captured the Rookie-of-the-Year title while piloting the No. 54 JGR Toyota entry. This past season, they qualified for the 2024 Playoffs and finished in 15th place in the final standings on the strengths of two poles, eight top-five results and 12 top-10 results.
Through 214 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Gayle has achieved a total of two victories, four poles, 43 top-five results and 81 top-10 results while working with three competitors as he now strives to pick up the torch and maintain the momentum carried forth by the No. 11 team and his new driver Denny Hamlin. Ironically, Gayle is set to become Hamlin’s fifth full-time crew chief overall as Hamlin enters his 20th consecutive season as a full-time Cup Series competitor, all with JGR, in 2025.
“Denny is obviously a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Gayle added. “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.”
A crew chief replacement for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team remains to be determined.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for Joe Gibbs Racing is set to commence with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2 that will commence at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway that will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
