Joe Gibbs Racing's 2025 driver line-up includes Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and the most recent addition of Chase Briscoe who is taking over Martin Truex Jr.'s spot on the team. In the most recent episode of his podcast, former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick highlighted the expectations from Gibbs, Briscoe, and Hamlin as they go into the new season with new crew chiefs, as well as the increased pressure on the Joe Gibbs team overall.
Speaking on Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour podcast, which is presented by NASCAR on Fox, the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver picked out the three drivers from the JGR line-up, highlighting what he believes their performance needs to be this year. Speaking about the Joe Gibbs Racing in general, Harvick conceded that they are facing tough odds but might come out of it successful with their new organizational changes.
"I believe they all have a lot of pressure on them. The expectation is to win at Gibbs and in order to do that they're going to have to do it quick. None of them did in the second half of [2024] so now you've got all these changes. But you will have a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of time, effort because nobody there wants it to fail. So they could come out on fire," Harvick said. [27:47]
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Speaking about Chase Briscoe, who moved from SHR after it was shut down at the end of 2024,and will now drive the #19 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Accompanied by James Small, who continues with the #19 team after Truex Jr.'s departure, Kevin Harvick explained that the driver is primed to deliver in 2025.
“I think Chase Briscoe is in a position where he needs to go out like a ball of fire and make something happen from the driver’s standpoint,” Harvick added. [27:21]
Ty Gibbs, joined by by crew chief Adam Stevens, who has worked with Kyle Busch in the past, is going into his third full-time season in the Cup Series and with JGR having achieved no wins. With regard to the 22-year-old, Harvick says that the driver needs to get it done this year.
“I know that seems like a lot of pressure with a new crew chief, but at some point, you got to get into Victory Lane and just get the monkey off of your back,” Harvick said. [26:48]
Lastly, Denny Hamlin's long-time crew chief, Chris Gabehart, will be moving up in the organzation, acting as Joe Gibbs Racing's competition director. Hamlin goes in to his 2025 season with Ty Gibbs' former crew chief, Chris Gayle. The 2014 Cup Series Champion believes that Gabehart's promotion will be beneficial to the team, but will require the new driver and crew chief pairing to operate well.
“Internally, I think they’ve made their organization stronger, but now you’re going to have to make it function at the racetrack with the driver and the crew chief, ” Harvick said [27:33]
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season will begin this weekend, with the JGR drivers all entering the Cook Out Clash at The Bowman Gray on February 2nd.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was in "shock" about crew chief departure
Denny Hamlin, who drives the #11 Toyota for JGR, revealed in the 2024 post-season about his surprise on his former crew chief, Chris Gabehart's, promotion. While speaking with the media in November, Hamlin explained that he understands why the team would make the decision, but was still reeling with shock at the announcement.
“The first few days was a shock, but I’m moving on. There’s nothing I can do to change anything that happened, and JGR is doing what they feel is best for them and I totally understand that. And if all of our program gets better, the 11 car’s gonna run better as well, right? And I think that all of us, all the teams, knew that we needed to have better results than what we had at the end of the year. They feel like this is the change they need to [make] to get that and that the 11 team will benefit from those changes.” [via NASCAR]
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin and his new crew chief, Chris Gayle, will work with each other for the first time once the season begins in the Bowman Gray Stadium.
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