“He got to this position for a reason”: Denny Hamlin makes his feelings clear on his new crew chief pairing for 2025 NASCAR season  

Denny Hamlin recently expressed his thoughts on his first NASCAR outing of the 2025 season with Chris Gayle, his new crew chief. For the past six years, Chris Gabehart served as Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota team's crew chief before transitioning to an executive role for Joe Gibbs Racing, as the Competition Director.

After this shocking announcement by the championship-winning Cup Series team, Gayle, who served two seasons as the right-hand man for JGR driver Ty Gibbs in the Cup Series, was shifted to call the shots for the No. 11 Toyota team. Notably, Hamlin's new crew chief has a rich history of lifting the Xfinity Series title for Gibbs and racking up over 35 wins, including a couple in NASCAR's premier division.

In a recent conversation with RACER's Kelly Crandall, the 54-time Cup Series race winner, Hamlin, opened up on his new pairing after an eventful Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. He said:

"Chris is someone that I ran just a couple of Xfinity races (with), but we’re learning each other, and certainly, it’s a process. We’re not going to just figure each other out right off the bat. I’m trying to do things as I did before, and he’s trying to understand that. But I’m also trying to give him the full free rein to do things however he sees fit as well. He got to this position for a reason, and so you’ve got to always trust your leadership to make the right calls."

During the Clash weekend, Hamlin worked his way through the main event by securing a win in the heat race. Furthermore, after battling the eventual winner Chase Elliott, the 44-year-old ended up with a P3.

"My job is to drive the car and give them the feedback," Hamlin continued. Nothing more. I’m not the crew chief. I’m not the strategist. Nothing like that. My job is to do it today and go there tomorrow and tell them a direction that we need to work on. That’s really important, and I feel like it’s getting off to a good start."

NASCAR: Clash at Bowman Gray - Heat Races - Source: Imagn

Apart from Hamlin, his new crew chief also expressed his take on the duo's first NASCAR outing during the exhibition-style race at Bowman Gray Stadium.

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"It's a good first attempt": Denny Hamlin's new crew chief shares his honest take after the Bowman Gray Clash

NASCAR Practice - Source: Getty

Chris Gayle began his career with Joe Gibbs Racing as an engineer in 2003. He transitioned to the crew chief role in 2013 with the North Carolina-based organization's Xfinity team, securing 20 wins before a brief period with Furniture Row Racing. He returned to the Toyota team in 2018 and has served as crew chief for various drivers since.

Speaking with Kelly Crandall in the aforementioned interview, Gayle reflected on adjusting to the No. 11 team after NASCAR's return to the historic short track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He said (via RACER):

"But it’s a good first attempt. You’re here the first time, and I’m with a bunch of new guys. So you get to go through… not a normal process, but somewhat of a process of how these guys made decisions before me (being) in the loop of everything, understanding some of those things and how it was done."

Hamlin's crew chief concluded the conversation by acknowledging the one-off Clash as a "solid run" to start NASCAR's official season at Daytona International Speedway on February 16.