NASCAR
Denny Hamlin Looks Forward to Changes in 2019
At the unveiling for his new paint scheme, Denny Hamlin and new crew chief Chris Gabehart previewed their 2019 season. Coming off of his statistically career-worst season, Denny is looking to deliver more consistency and wins in the new year.
Hamlin’s Optimism for 2019
“Sometimes in sports you just have those seasons where things don’t go right or you just don’t get the job done at the level you expect to, and you’ve got to reset and refocus from that,” said Denny Hamlin. 2018 was Hamlin’s first ever winless season in the NASCAR Cup Series, despite some strong races. In both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, Denny Hamlin was leading on the final restart. However, the 11 team was lacking execution throughout the 2018 season, leading to an ultimate 11th place championship finish.
New Year, New Man On Top of the 11
One big change for Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Fedex Toyota for 2019 will be their crew chief. Hamlin will have a rookie crew chief atop his pit box, with Chris Gabehart. Mike Wheeler, Hamlin’s former crew chief, is moving onto the 95 car. Wheeler and Hamlin had been together for 3 seasons, winning 5 races including the Daytona 500. Gabehart was previously a JGR crew chief in the Xfinity Series, winning with a variety of drivers in past years.
In Hamlin’s eyes, Gabehart’s inexperience in the Cup Series is outweighed by his determination and competitive spirit. “They gave me a list of probably three or four guys when they said that we wanted to make a change for next year, and Chris is the obvious one that stuck out to me, even over some that had already accomplished a lot in the Cup Series, just because of his fire,” said Hamlin.
For Chris Gabehart, he is ready to get his his rookie season as a Cup Series crew chief underway. “I’m excited to get over here. That was definitely my goal, trying to move up through the ranks, when I proved to the company and such that I was ready to do so and an opportunity like this with Joe Gibbs Racing has all the equipment you could ever need to perform,” said Gabehart.
The Season Starts Now for Hamlin & Gabehart
Hamlin and Gabehart’s first race together will be The Clash, the Daytona exhibition race on February 10th. However, they will first be working together in testing this week. The JGR 11 will join several other teams at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to test this year’s new rules package.
“With this year’s rules package, it’s really exciting because there’s just so many different ways to attack it,” said Gabehart. “It’s really going to depend on the weekend and the track. I think you’re going to see a lot of people, especially early on, trying to figure this out, and that’s going to change from racetrack to racetrack, which is going to create good racing and I think a lot of comers and goers week to week.”
For the first time in his career, Denny Hamlin is trying to end a year-plus winless drought. He will try to reassert himself as a title threat, with a rookie crew chief. The Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota Camry will have to adjust to new faces in new places for 2019, but expect Hamlin to be up front starting at Daytona.
