“He’s very calculated and understands the big picture.” These words of appreciation came from another driver for Chris Gabehart, Denny Hamlin’s former crew chief. In a survey conducted by The Athletic among playoff drivers, Gabehart received eight votes as the most-wanted crew chief, more than anybody else. However, a series of dominoes are falling regarding Gabehart’s service as a crew chief. Now, Tony Stewart’s former Cup star is also in this story.

The Superbowl of Late Model Racing is just around the corner, with some changes. Aside from Hoosier bringing in the ST1/ST3 combination to shake up the tire situation, one driver will be majorly affected. Ryan Preece was scheduled to run the Snowball Derby but now will lack a crucial helping hand.

Denny Hamlin’s heartbreak is contagious

With over two decades of experience, Chris Gabehart holds a sterling reputation in NASCAR. Denny Hamlin failed to win a race during the 2018 season, led a low number of laps (380), and ranked 11th in points. But 2019 marked change, as Gabehart propelled Denny Hamlin to a resurgence of success, clinching 22 victories since. Similarly, the expert crew chief has a history of supporting Ryan Preece, Tony Stewart’s dark horse in Stewart-Haas Racing, in his Snowball Derby efforts. Their Late Model Racing interests aligned for the first time in 2021. Last year, Kevin Harvick fielded the car driven by Preece with Gabehart as crew chief.

That car was scheduled to race the New Smyrna World Series and up to seven other shows, along with the 2024 Snowball Derby. However, that bubbling prospect for Five Flags Speedway has fizzled out this year.

Apparently, Denny Hamlin’s own heartbreak has reached Preece, a future RFK Racing driver, as well. Journalist Matt Weaver wrote on X about how Gabehart is becoming a dwindling presence. “Preece has typically raced with Chris Gabehart in recent years but the latter is suddenly, um, very occupied this month and into next season.”

Denny Hamlin and Gabehart won three of the first 11 races in 2024 but ended the year without another visit back to Victory Lane. Joe Gibbs Racing was winless after Christopher Bell won in New Hampshire. Aside from these stats, no further information was available about why Gabehart was let go. Hamlin himself professed immense surprise: “The first few days was a shock, but I’m moving on. There’s nothing I can do to change anything that happened, and JGR is doing what they feel is best for them and I totally understand that. And if all of our program gets better, the 11 car’s gonna run better as well, right?”

Although we are not sure how better it will be, it may be on par with Gabehart’s presence.

Hamlin acknowledges new aide

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Granted, Chris Gabehart achieved loads for multiple teams. Ryan Preece would surely miss him at the Snowball Derby. Gabehart was the 2007 CRA Super Series champion driver with a wealth of interest in Late Models. However, Denny Hamlin is looking forward to his new companion. Chris Gayle will join the No. 11 team after two years atop the box for Ty Gibbs. His resume holds 37 Xfinity Series wins with drivers like Gibbs, Kyle Busch, and Erik Jones. He also led Gibbs to the 2022 Xfinity Series championship. Hamlin and Gayle have also worked together in eight Xfinity Series races.

They won the spring 2016 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway before a runner-up effort at Darlington Raceway later that year. So Denny Hamlin is optimistic about Gabehart’s replacement. “He’s been with the company for 20 years, and certainly, he knows all the tools that the teams use. He’s really just had rookie drivers for the most part in the course of his Cup career, so I think it’s going to be a welcomed change for him, and welcomed change for me to go out there and try to build a new relationship and obviously win a lot of races. So I think it probably was the easiest choice, considering he was part of the program already.”

Evidently, Denny Hamlin is trying his best to adapt to the changed situation. Yet Chris Gabehart’s absence is deeply felt, even outside NASCAR.