Denny Hamlin Drops Several Playoff Spots in Massive L2 Penalty
What’s Happening? NASCAR is assessing Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Crew Chief Chris Gabehart with monumental penalties with just two…
Future NASCAR Hall of Famer Denny Hamlin is facing a lot of challenges entering the 2025 season. From sponsor troubles to crew chief changes, the only consistent factor Hamlin has entering 2025 is his No. 11. So, how will the three-time Daytona 500 Champion respond in 2025?
At the finish of the 2024 Cook Out 400, Austin Dillon wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to win the race. Hamlin took a particularly hard hit into the outside wall; according to Hamlin’s Crew Chief, it was one of the hardest hits of the Next Gen era for a Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
While Denny ventured on to the next race at Michigan, Hamlin failed to make waves for the rest of the season.
However, his pre-playoff struggles did not stop at Richmond. Following the spring race at Bristol, TRD tore down the race-winning engine at their facility rather than allowing NASCAR to do so. On Aug. 22, NASCAR fined Hamlin 75 points and 10 Playoff points and revoked his Bristol win from playoff implications.
What’s Happening? NASCAR is assessing Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Crew Chief Chris Gabehart with monumental penalties with just two…
Hamlin went into the playoffs minus points and a key win; however, by the Martinsville Championship Four cutoff race, fans were less concerned with Hamlin’s on-track performance and more about his NASCAR Cup Series team, 23XI Racing and its lawsuit with NASCAR.
23XI and Front Row Motorsports filed this antitrust lawsuit on Oct. 2, and while this was off-track drama, it surely did not help his late-season performance. Despite managing the third-best average finish in the Playoffs, Hamlin failed to make the Championship Four for a third consecutive season
What’s Happening? The 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit will continue for some time. However, many developments will occur along…
Keeping with this trend of off-track changes and drama, Hamlin is facing massive changes at Joe Gibbs Racing, specifically with his No. 11.
First, veteran teammate Martin Truex Jr is retired from full-time racing, and to replace him, JGR opted for former Stewart-Haas Racing talent Chase Briscoe. This means that entering 2025, the 44-year-old Hamlin has been racing full-time at JGR longer than his teammates combined in the Cup Series career.
Such a generational divide spread unfounded rumors Hamlin could be out of the car sooner rather than later. These rumors have been consistent for Hamlin for several years now, yet they flamed back up when Hamlin’s sponsor of 20 seasons, FedEx, announced they were walking away from the sport prior to 2025.
This reminded fans of Hamlin’s longtime teammate Kyle Busch, who seemingly lost his spot at JGR following the departure of his sponsor, Mars Inc., following the 2022 season.
What’s Happening? This weekend, Denny Hamlin is racing his classic FedEx No. 11 at Phoenix. However, while we could see them…
While Hamlin isn’t going anywhere soon, at least as fast as Busch did, in a shocking move, longtime Crew Chief Chris Gabehart is out for 2025.
This move comes following seven seasons of success for Hamlin and Gabehart, in which the pair won 22 races. While Gabehart Transfers to his new role of Competition Director at JGR, the team is sending Ty Gibbs’ former Crew Chief, Chris Gayle, to the No. 11.
Gayle, once a standout Xfinity Series Crew Chief, has struggled in six full-time NASCAR Cup Series seasons, only winning two races with former JGR driver Erik Jones in 2018 and 2019.
What’s Happening? Lost in the broadcast changes, Charter transfers, and driver changes is the Crew Chief shuffle of the 2025 NASCAR…
For a driver with as many years of experience as Hamlin has, this is not the first time he has faced challenges entering a season.
While Hamlin was healthy following his hard hit at Richmond, in past seasons, he wasn’t so lucky. Take 2013, for example; late at Auto Club Speedway, contact with Joey Logano crashed Hamlin into the inside wall of the track. Hamlin suffered a compression fracture, resulting in him missing a major portion of the early season.
Hamlin missed the next four races but failed to win a race until Homestead. Following his accident, Hamlin did not look like himself until 2015; his stats show that the 2013 and 2014 seasons were the worst of his career. However, since his rebound in 2015, Hamlin has mostly dominated throughout the years.
Since his first full-time NASCAR Cup Series season, Hamlin has had five Crew Chiefs. This includes a stretch from 2012 to 2019 in which Hamlin had four different Crew Chiefs.
In seasons in which Hamlin has a new Crew Chief, 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2019, Hamlin has had some of the best seasons of his career. This includes his six-win 2019 campaign with Chris Gabehart and an 11.8 average finish in 2016 with Mike Wheeler.
This history suggests that Hamlin and Gayle could have a season to remember in 2025. However, there are still a lot of factors, such as age and loss of sponsorship, that will play into the coming season.
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