“As far as just pure racing (is concerned), it’s hard to say.” When the King questions the quality of a race, you know there’s something deeper going on. Outside of the glamor of the Throwback Weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) just lit up Darlington. Denny Hamlin stormed to victory in the Goodyear 400, clinching his second straight NASCAR Cup Series win of the season. A jaw-dropping pit stop in overtime turned a good day into a historic one—his fifth Darlington triumph and 56th career win.
Ty Gibbs nabbed his first top-10 of the year in ninth, and Christopher Bell took third. JGR wasn’t just racing; they were roaring. And President Dave Alpern was pointing straight to former crew chief Chris Gabehart as the architect of this dominance.
The race was wild. William Byron owned it—243 laps led, both stages in his pocket—until Kyle Larson’s late spin flipped everything. NASCAR overtime hit, and Hamlin’s pit crew delivered a miracle stop, rocketing him from third to first. He fended off Byron in the restart, sealing the deal. And Ty Gibbs, after early struggles, got a boost from new crew chief Tyler Allen. Even Heather Gibbs, Ty’s mom, admitted to betting on Hamlin all along.
But the real story is Gabehart’s shadow looming large. Alpern, still dripping from victory lane champagne, sat with Claire B. Lang and laid it bare. “Denny’s just showing off now,” he chuckled, voice thick with pride. “And Chris Gale, I told him about that. No, it was a, that was a, that was a great win for the team. That was a pit, I mean, that was a pit stop. That just shows you right there in the end how clutch down the track position. So it was, I’m super happy for the 11 guys just to get him out of a stop.” Claire pressed about Gabehart, now JGR’s competition director. “I think he’s been a big addition to have him in that role,” Alpern said.
Dave Alpern @PERNSKI President of @JoeGibbsRacing celebrates the @dennyhamlin @TooToughToTame win Sunday! Tradition for me to talk to Alpern post win! pic.twitter.com/NzKh0soflo
— Claire B Lang (@ClaireBLang) April 7, 2025
Alpern added further, “I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to the whole team and he would tell you that. I think he’s helped put together the right teams. Whether it’s the Pit Crew or the Road Crew, that 11 team is intact from last year. Chris Gale leading them now, so they were already strong last year. They haven’t missed a beat this year at all. And again when you look across the whole team, when you don’t have a strong day but you can rally the way we did, that’s when you know your team has really put together well.”
Gabehart’s move from Hamlin’s crew chief to competition director rattled the No. 11 team at first. Hamlin had explained he felt “uneasy” about the swap, but a week later, he was sold. Gayle stepped in, and the wins kept coming which is proof Gabehart’s blueprint of versatility and grit, praised by ex-ally Mike Wheeler, still drives JGR. Gabehart dropped words of wisdom for the No. 11 team as well. “I was so happy to see that group succeed. I have a ton of pride in watching them succeed without me and doing it the way they did… I constantly told all of them over the off-season, if you do it this way and if you buy into it, it will be just as strong, if not stronger because new ideas come to the table and that’s healthy.”
And this was clear in Hamlin’s mentality, as he explained on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I sucked it up and said I’m gonna do the best I can and not waste the last years of my career p—— and moaning about this. I’m just gonna be a professional and do everything I can to make sure this works out.”
Darlington’s sacred ground for JGR. “We love this place,” Alpern said, eyes gleaming. “Clearly, this is the track that got Denny’s career started. So it’s a special place to hear a man like us.” From Jones’s redemption to Ty’s turnaround, Gabehart’s vision built over years with Hamlin turned a tough day into a banner one. This isn’t just a win; it was a legacy rolling on.
Denny Hamlin’s current crew chief praises his crew
It wasn’t just about speed; William Byron had that covered early on, and Ryan Blaney seemed unstoppable mid-race. But Hamlin’s pit crew was the real heroes, turning a nail-biting overtime into pure victory with a jaw-dropping 9.4-second pit stop.
Crew chief Chris Gayle couldn’t hold back his pride. “For those guys, man, they are just villains,” he said, “They just want that moment to where they can go in there and just rip everybody’s hearts out and win the race, walk away, don’t care what anybody else thinks, unapologetic.” You can hear how much it meant to him—those five guys, including jackman Joel Alexandre Bouagnon, with his slick behind-the-back move, flipped the whole game.
Gayle admitted things almost went south: “We pitted with three laps on tires early, which is probably the wrong call on my part. Even then we had a bad pit stop and lost five spots on pit road from all the guys that took tires.” But they fought back, and that’s what hits hard. Hamlin only led 10 laps, but he hung tough in the top five, waiting for his moment. When that caution came, his crew pounced, getting him out first.
And Hamlin leaned into that “villain” vibe, even jabbing at Kyle Larson post-race. How do they keep pulling this off is still a mystery?
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