Recently, Hamlin put a strong demand on his team and the owner, Joe Gibbs. Speaking about it during the Pocono race weekend, the No. 11 driver stated that frequent crew chief changes are what he expects the least from his team.

"I can assure you this is my last one," Hamlin told reporters. "I will quit if they want to have another November 10th at 10:00 p.m. meeting. I am out. You can forget it."

Despite having a stellar Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin threatened to quit NASCAR. However, it wasn't because of performance pressure or his growing age.

Hamlin clarified during the press meet that he wants consistency from Joe Gibbs Racing. If not met, he said he would leave the sport.

Notably, Hamlin's concern comes after questions about his crew chief surfaced in his second year of working with Chris Gayle. Hamlin seemed fed up with the constant changes in crew chiefs.

And this was not a rare scenario, as Hamlin worked with several crew chiefs over the years. Hamlin started off with Mike Ford, his first crew chief at JGR, and then he worked with Darian Grubb.

In 2015, Dave Rogers joined him as crew chief, followed by Mike Wheeler. Gabehart joined Hamlin in 2019. In 2025, he was replaced by Gayle, who became Hamlin's sixth crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing in two decades.

Denny Hamlin Called Chris Gayle "Unsung Hero"

At the Pocono weekend press conference, Denny Hamlin hailed his crew chief as someone who did not get enough credit for craft.

"The unsung hero in my opinion. Obviously, you know a lot of credit goes to, 'Well, it's my experience, oh, it's my car. Well, the cars just don't appear out of clean air with a lot of speed. It takes a lot of work from a lot of people and you got to have a captain guiding the ship," Hamlin said.

With Gayle as chief, Denny Hamlin picked up 11 wins, including an All-Star race, in one and a half seasons. Last year, he finished as a runner-up, and this time around, Hamlin is already a championship favorite.

"And what I think he's done a great job of is coming into the 11s system and then refining the system from a different perspective, right? And I think sometimes you really can get caught up in this is the way we've always done it," Hamlin further added. "We've had good success in it, and this is the way we're going to do it. But he's not been afraid to put his own touches on the race team. So, I don't think enough credit goes to Chris Gayle."

Chris Gayle comes with enormous experience. He started off as a race engineer back in 2003 and worked his way up to be the crew chief of Denny Hamlin in 2026, showing his calibre and determination over 23 years.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit