“This obviously wasn’t his choice”: Kevin Harvick clear about Denny Hamlin’s inclination in JGR’s major organizational overhaul

Kevin Harvick has delivered a clear perspective about Denny Hamlin "obviously" not wanting his former crew chief Chris Gabehart to get promoted as the team's competition director. The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion shed light on the upcoming difficulties the Joe Gibbs Racing driver would encounter in gelling with new right-hand man, Chris Gayle.

Following the conclusion of NASCAR's 76th Cup Series season, during which JGR failed to punch a Championship 4 ticket, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based outfit initiated a major off-season move, relieving Gabehart as the crew chief of the #11 Toyota Camry.

Gabehart and Hamlin's collaboration began in 2019 and the duo shined. They claimed 22 triumphs, from which 13 came from just two seasons. However, despite their efforts and strategies, Hamlin could never come home with the highly-coveted Cup Series trophy.

Thus, JGR thought it'd be best to promote Gabehart as the competition director for the overall performance improvement of the organization housing Christopher Bell, Hamlin, and Ty Gibbs, and the latest hiring, Chase Briscoe.

However, Kevin Harvick stated that the move would give a difficult time to Denny Hamlin, as the required relationship between the crew chief and the driver sometimes takes time to form, considering the amount of input being communicated, especially from the driver's side.

"For Denny, now it becomes much more difficult to handle in my opinion because of the fact that he has a new crew chief. From my standpoint, with the things that I dealt with, when you have a new crew chief, it requires more effort from the driver's side of things to get that relationship started," Harvick said (10:00).

Rodney Childers joined Harvick in the 2014 season and they claimed the Cup Series champion during their maiden season as partners.

The former driver then outlined that moving Gabehart up the ranks was never Hamlin's "choice" as it would take away his vital support system.

"I know his crew chief (Gayle) has been in the building for a long time and they've obviously crossed paths but this obviously wasn't Denny's choice and so he is going to have a little bit of a chip on his shoulder," Harvick added.

Hamlin's new crew chief Chris Gayle previously worked for the #54 Toyota Camry piloted by Ty Gibbs.

"The first few days was a shock": Denny Hamlin opened up about learning JGR's internal shakeup

Following the season finale at the Phoenix Raceway where Joey Logano reigned supreme for Team Penske's third consecutive Cup Series title, JGR intimated to Denny Hamlin about the crew chief change. The #11 driver revealed he was shocked upon learning about the overhaul, expressing there's nothing he could do to undo the change.

Nonetheless, the 54-time Cup Series race winner exuded optimism in JGR's decision, saying whatever the organization did was ultimately for the overall benefit of the team, including his #11 Toyota eagerly waiting to initiate the championship burnouts.

“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," Denny Hamlin said via NASCAR.

Denny Hamlin will enter NASCAR's 77th Cup Series season with 54 triumphs, including three Daytona 500s, three Southern 500s, and 234 top-5s. Do you think the veteran driver and Gayle's pairing could clinch the feat left unattained in the previous pairing?