NASCAR Champions Week Notebook

Yesterday at 02:11 PM

Offseason crew chief change took veteran driver Denny Hamlin by surprise

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Denny Hamlin took his seat behind the microphone in the NASCAR Awards Media Room at the Charlotte Convention Center anticipating the questions. He just didn‘t have all the answers.

"No and no,‘‘ Hamlin said Friday when asked if he had requested a change or was even aware a change was coming to the leadership of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team.

The JGR team announced early Friday that Hamlin‘s crew chief for the past six years, Chris Gabehart, has been named competition director of the entire four-car JGR operation, and Chris Gayle has moved from leading Ty Gibbs‘ No. 54 JGR team to Hamlin‘s No. 11 Toyota.

A new crew chief will be named for Gibbs shortly, according to the team.

"I certainly was shocked by it, I will tell you that,‘‘ said Hamlin, who said he was called into the shop for an uncommon 6 p.m. meeting Thursday evening and received the news.

"They have to do what‘s best for the company, and I think they are looking for an improvement on performance for the 54 (Gibbs) and an overall improvement for all the teams, because we certainly didn‘t win the number of races as an organization that we should have won.”

For his part, Gibbs said he did not ask for a new crew chief, but he does expect to have some input into who will be his team‘s new leader, as he seeks his first victory in NASCAR‘s top division.

"Chris has meant the world to me and been with me for most of the ups and downs of my life, and I‘ve won a (2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series) championship with him and 12-13 races with him,‘‘ Gibbs said of Gayle.

"I‘ve really appreciated the time I‘ve gotten to work with him and think him and Denny hopefully will be a great fit, and I‘m excited to see what happens going forward and improving the team as a whole organization.‘‘

JGR‘s Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Toyota, was optimistic about the personnel moves as well.

"I think it has the potential to help out all the teams,‘‘ said Bell, a three-race winner in 2024. "Gabehart is an incredibly smart person. He was a huge asset to the 11 car, and I think moving him to oversee the crew chiefs and be able to provide input and knowledge and just kind of keep all of the teams in line is a solid move, and I think it has the potential to increase the performance of all the teams."

Hamlin was similarly philosophical about the personnel move and eager to see what the re-organization means in trying to secure the three-time DAYTONA 500 winner his first series championship.

"Every relationship has an opportunity to thrive, and certainly I felt like I had a good one with Gabehart," Hamlin added. "We had some good success, and I‘ve won with all the crew chiefs I‘ve ever been with. I would expect this to be the same."

Crew chief change for Brad Keselowski is latest news item at RFK Racing

When co-owner/driver Brad Keselowski points out that RFK Racing is having a busy offseason, he‘s not kidding.

Within the last week, RFK announced the addition of driver Ryan Preece to its NASCAR Cup Series roster. With sponsorship from Kroger, Preece will drive the No. 60 Ford next season.

On Thursday, RFK announced the hiring of Jeremy Bullins as Keselowski‘s crew chief, replacing Matt McCall. The pairing of Keselowski and Bullins is a reunion from their days at Team Penske, where Bullins called the shots from Keselowski‘s pit box in 2020 and 2021.

Bullins comes to RFK from Wood Brothers Racing, where he has served as crew chief for Harrison Burton.

Keselowski was circumspect about the reasons for the change but allowed that "I‘m not really looking to get into detail, but when there‘s top talent available, we feel fortunate enough to be able to hire it."

Both the hiring of Bullins and the addition of Preece are strategic moves Keselowski feels are critical to RFK‘s growth as a company. In Preece, who joins Keselowski and Chris Buescher on the driver roster, he sees an abundance of talent that has yet to realize its full potential.

"If you look at the way NASCAR‘s set up right now, you need to have three teams," Keselowski said. “I think that‘s why you see the Trackhouses, 23XI—all those guys are pushing to be three teams—even Front Row.

"There‘s strength in numbers, just the way the sport‘s laid out and how you can kind of amortize the overhead and capture the most data. So it‘s important for us to be not just financially viable but competitively viable to have three teams and maximize the opportunities on a given weekend."

Preece comes to RFK from now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing, where he posted a best 2024 finish of fourth at Nashville Superspeedway.

"Talent, underrated, hard-working—everything you could dream of in a coachable player," Keselowski said of his new driver hire. "I think the ball‘s in our court to give him the right opportunity and equipment and surround him with the right people to succeed."

For Chase Briscoe, acclimation to Joe Gibbs Racing is paramount

The addition of Chase Briscoe to the Joe Gibbs Racing roster brings another driver from the dirt ranks to one of NASCAR‘s most powerful teams.

The NASCAR Cup Series lineup at JGR also includes three-time Chili Bowl champion Christopher Bell and fledgling dirt driver Ty Gibbs, grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs.

Faced with a quorum of drivers who enjoy competing at dirt tracks, Joe Gibbs has relaxed his embargo on extracurricular racing.

While Bell is excited by the decision, Briscoe is far more concerned with acclimating to a new Toyota team after seven years in the Ford camp, most recently in a Stewart-Haas Racing Cup car.

Getting the lay of the land isn‘t Briscoe‘s only priority. On Oct. 8, his wife, Marissa, gave birth to twins Cooper Banks Briscoe and Collins Ivy Briscoe.

"Honestly, as of right now, I don‘t have anything on the calendar," Biscoe said of dirt-track plans. "I‘m not going to do Chili Bowl, just with the twins and everything else. It would be a lot to leave my wife for a week.

"I don‘t really know what my dirt schedule looks like. Right now, I‘m totally content not running anything, just with everything I‘ve got going on at home and then on the professional side, trying to get my feet settled at JGR."

Briscoe will succeed 2017 Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. at JGR in what arguably will constitute the most significant opportunity of his career.

"Maybe when I get more settled I‘ll go back to running some stuff, but right now, honestly, the desire‘s not really there," Briscoe said. "I‘m so focused on doing this thing right and having this opportunity go as well as it can.

"I just want all my focus to be on that."

Bell said he would attend the Tulsa Shootout over New Year‘s weekend, but he has to work out some personal scheduling issues before he‘ll decide if he can drive in the event. The 2025 Chili Bowl also is a possibility.

"Right now, I don‘t have any plans to do it," Bell said. “I‘ve got a couple things, personally, that‘s going on, but you never know, you never know. I love the Chili Bowl."

Two-time Chili Bowl winner and 2021 NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson, who competes regularly in several sprint car series—including the High Limit Racing Series he co-owns with Brad Sweet—looks forward to welcoming Bell back to the dirt ranks.

"If he chooses to race more often, I think that‘s great for him, I think that‘s great for the sport—NASCAR and grass-roots racing," Larson said. "I‘m glad that he‘s going to do it again, and hopefully we‘ll get to have many more battles in the midgets and sprint cars."

NASCAR Rookies of the Year look at honors as potential launching pads

Spire Motorsports‘ Carson Hocevar (NASCAR Cup Series), Richard Childress Racing‘s Jesse Love (NASCAR Xfinity Series) and Front Row Motorsports‘ Layne Riggs (NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series) claimed prestigious Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in their respective series—honors they all claim could be the big difference in propelling their careers forward.

Hocevar, 21, earned a career-best third place finish at the Watkins Glen, N.Y., road course and tallied six top 10s in the No. 77 Chevrolet in his first full season. But beyond the results on track, Hocevar hopes he has shown his fellow Cup competitors that he‘s worthy.

"I don‘t know if respect is the right word, but more so I think the 'comfortability,‘" the California-native Hocevar said. "(Team owner) Jeff Dickerson looked at me and said, 'Man, you kind of made it.‘

"I asked him what are you talking about and he said, 'At Phoenix, Tyler Reddick kind of put his championship in your hands racing door-to-door with you for five laps. He wouldn‘t have done that if he planned on you getting loose or not being able to control your stuff.‘

"So that was kind of his reminder that there is still respect to be earned, but that everybody‘s becoming more comfortable. And that‘s a plus."

Love, 19, conceded that earning rookie honors is a big achievement and a nod he‘s headed in the right direction, but it wasn‘t a title he was specifically aiming for. The Californian was the only rookie of the year to advance to a series Playoff. He won pole positions in the first two races of the year and scored his maiden Xfinity Series win at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in the spring.

In all, Love had seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 33 races and was eliminated from the championship before the final round.

"I don‘t think anyone is fully satisfied if you‘re not the champion, but at the same time, for me, it was one of those deals I didn‘t expect the world, because I know how I am as a rookie is not super splashy,‘‘ Love said. "I think way too much to kind of fly by the seat of my pants.

"Once I figured out how to drive the cars and what my balance was and how to communicate better, that‘s kind of my biggest thing, so next year is where I feel like I put the pressure on myself and figure out how good I‘m going to be."

Riggs, 22, earned his first two career victories in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series this year. Although he missed the postseason, Riggs won back-to-back Playoff races (at Milwaukee and Bristol, Tenn.) and then finished runner-up at Kansas during one three-race streak.

In all, he had seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and was ranked 11th in the final championship standings, highest among the non-Playoff drivers.

"Ninety percent of the tracks we go to I‘d never see before so just trying to learn it all, gel with the team and basically a new team at the end of the day, everyone on the team was in a new position they had never been in before,‘‘ Riggs said, adding, "Just took a while to figure it all out and me get more consistent…

"Everything takes a little bit of time, and everybody asks, 'What did you change to finally win races?‘ and it was nothing, just finally got all the little details worked out."

— NASCAR News Wire —