Chris Gabehart understands on multiple levels why it’s a surprise that he was named competition director of Joe Gibbs Racing and therefore taken off the No. 11 pit box as crew chief for Denny Hamlin.
“I’ve been wrestling with what that means,” Gabehart said. “It could mean I don’t know what he’s thinking doing this or it could mean I can’t believe they’re moving him from this to do that, right? So, there are a lot of mixed emotions and all that.
Gabehart said it was not an easy decision because he had such a great thing going with Hamlin and the 11 team after 22 victories in six NASCAR Cup Series seasons together. He says that relationship has given him and taught him so much.
“But you know, I had to realize that myself and all these crew chiefs and certainly these big organizations, we live in an ecosystem, and it takes a lot of things to make that ecosystem function effectively,” Gabehart said. “There was clearly a need and the constant evolution of Gen7 racing highlights that there is a need to evolve with it.
“After some careful deliberation, there were some areas that we all definitely feel like we could be better in and I could be a great conduit to making that happen, so definitely not an easy decision. Nothing in life of this magnitude is but it’s one that I have gotten comfortable in thinking I can make a significant contribution.
“That is what tipped the scales.”
Joe Gibbs Racing has worked without an actual competition director since 2022 when Wally Brown decided to get off the road full-time and work in a shop capacity. The teams stumbled in the second half last year and only won with Hamlin and Christopher Bell to the tune of three wins each, and none since August.
Joe Gibbs and president Dave Alpern felt Gabehart could elevate the whole company in this role and expressed as much to him. Gabehart said he felt empowered by the vote of confidence and has immediately got to work.
“I came home and hit the ground running,” Gabehart said of the week after the season. “I have not stopped and that is a very different feel for me. I feel like the season is 40 weeks long and going and as I put out some of these fires and get a little more grounded in what the new role is and get some of the more pertinent things off and running.
“I’m starting to settle in for sure.”
Gabehart said there was no easy way to approach Hamlin.
“That is a testament to the relationship and we had built together on the 11 car over the past six years,” Gabehart said. “You have to realize that for me, that’s not just a conversation with Denny because without this team, we would just be two guys on a walk, and we wouldn’t win anything.
“It’s the culture that we’ve built. It’s the engineers, car chiefs, mechanics, truck drivers, pit crew. I mean, we became a very tight knit group that leaned on each other a lot.
“So yeah, I mean, the conversation with Denny was a tough one and it’s still admittedly tough for me to come off the (pit) box and realize that maybe I’ve called my last race. I’m not going to say that I have but maybe I have.
“For the first time in 32 years now, going back to my childhood, when we go to Daytona, the next race, I will not be focused on a single car number. That is very hard for me. That’s a very different role. But you know, where Denny is concerned, I think he gets it, you know what I mean.
“We’ve talked at large about and he understood that there would be a time where he would move on to different things and I would have a lot more to contribute outside of a door number. And there’s no easy way to have those conversations. But in the end, he’s a true professional and I think he truly understands this will make all of us better.”
His first order of business is finding a crew chief to take over for Chris Gayle, who moves from Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 car to Hamlin and the No. 11.
