Kevin Harvick reacts to surprising Denny Hamlin crew chief change heading into 2025 season

Kevin Harvick and the rest of the NASCAR world was shocked when it was revealed that Joe Gibbs Racing was breaking up Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart, and Chris Gayle would move into the role of crew chief for the No. 11 team.

Over the past few years, Hamlin and Gabehart have become one of the best driver-crew chief pairings in the sport, but Gabehart was elevated to the team’s competition director this past offseason. While Gayle has been around JGR for a number of years, Hamlin’s success and synergy with Gabehart will be tough to replicate, and Harvick explained why.

“I think for Denny, now it becomes much more difficult to handle, in my opinion, because of the fact that he has a new crew chief on the Cup side. I think when you have to, from my standpoint, with the things that I dealt with, when you have a new crew chief, it requires more effort from the driver side of things, to get that relationship started,” Harvick said, regarding building a relationship with Gayle amid the outside noise Hamlin is dealing with at 23XI Racing, via Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “Now, I know his crew chief has been in the building for a long time, and they’ve obviously crossed paths and things like that, but I don’t get the feeling that this was — this obviously wasn’t Denny’s choice.

“He’s going to have a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. I think internally there’s also that chip on some people’s shoulders at Joe Gibbs racing, to make sure that they prove it right. But that effort that it takes from Denny in the beginning of the year to get that going is going to be interesting, because that was one of the things with Rodney [Childers] that I loved the most, the fact that I knew I would show up at the simulator on this day, I knew I would do this, and when there was a problem, he would call me and we would talk through it, and it would take, you know, two minutes. I feel like that’s the relationship he had with Chris Gabehart, his old crew chief.

“Now, you’ve got to start that process all over again, and to have that convenience is going to be tough, with all the things he’s trying to balance.”

Even if it’ll be difficult, Harvick has confidence Hamlin will be able to handle the change. While Gabehart had a ton of success with the No. 11 wheelman throughout the last couple of years, they dried up during the playoffs last season, so a change could be a good thing for Hamlin in 2025.

“Denny’s a pro, right? He’s experienced. He’s been through this before,” Harvick added. “I think that, you know, that sudden change — I don’t know, it was messy when the playoffs started last year. You had the lawsuit happen. Lawsuit is continuing to happen. You had the engine. You had all these things happen. Ran in the back at Atlanta. I don’t know that that was necessarily, you know, a great choice, instead of just going for it.

“I think there were a number of things that seemed to transpire that just led to — there had to be something internal that was going on as well at JGR, for there be a position open for Chris Gabehart to go in there and take a new role, and move a new crew chief into the No. 11. Move a new crew chief into the No. 54. You know, you’ve got a new driver in the in the No. 19. So, I mean, there’s a lot of change at JGR. They won a lot of races in the first half of the year. They didn’t win a race in the second half of the year.

“So, I think it’s very interesting to see how this dynamic will go, especially on the No. 11, because of the fact I think if it doesn’t start well, it’s gonna be it’s gonna be a rocky ride.”

All told, Denny Hamlin’s ultimate goal is to win his first NASCAR Cup Series title in 2025, and as long as he has a shot at it when Phoenix rolls around in the fall, that’s all that will matter to him. Count the veteran out at your own risk, even as he deals with some changes behind the scenes.

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