Dale Earnhardt Jr ‘shocked’ by Joe Gibbs Racing’s | Sports News

One of the more shocking storylines to have come out of NASCAR’s Silly Season to this point is the exit of Chris Gabehart from Joe Gibbs Racing.

Denny Hamlin’s longtime crew chief transitioned to Director of Competition for the 2025 season, with Chris Gayle taking his function on the No. 11 crew. Hamlin wound up making it to the Championship Race, the place he led 208 laps till a warning with 4 to go prompted chaos on pit highway as a plethora of methods performed out, and sadly for JGR, Gayle and Co.’s gamble didn’t repay as he fell behind fellow title rival Kyle Larson, the place he remained till the checkered flag fell.

Fast ahead to December 3, the third day of the crew Hamlin co-owns, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports’ antitrust lawsuit in opposition to NASCAR in Charlotte, North Carolina, and it emerged that Gabehart had left JGR.

Hamlin was approached on the matter by Jenna Fryer, however he merely mentioned he did not have a touch upon the matter.

Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., nevertheless, had a lot to say on the matter on his newest ‘Dale Jr. Download’ podcast, admitting, “I was certainly shocked.”

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“It’s a big loss for JGR, and it kind of makes you wonder what the general temperature is, I guess, when a guy like that’s going to leave the building,” he later questioned.

“It appeared that he had position, he had been elevated out of the away from the crew chief position from Denny Hamlin into the Director of Competition, which is a very critical, important role. And I thought, ‘Man, this guy is perfect for this, and they will be well-positioned with him in that role.’

“So it’s hard to imagine how he got away or what would have been the result or the cause, I guess, of the departure.”

Co-host T.J. Majors questioned whether or not Gabehart’s exit may very well be linked together with his mid-season transfer back into a pit box, linking up with Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 crew to help after a tough first half of the season.

“It’s no secret that what I’m most familiar with is these game-time situations,” Gabehart mentioned when talking with RACER. “There are a lot of other things I do throughout the week, but the decision was made once we got three of the four [locked] in to put all we could put behind the [No.] 54 to try to get it in, too, and when you have a bench that’s got assets on it, you use it. That’s part of it.”

Ty’s outcomes did decide up, ending second on the subsequent race in Chicago, together with a additional two prime fives and 4 prime 10s.

Earnhardt prompt the state of affairs might have performed out alongside the strains of, “I think they kind of found themselves in a bit of a bind in the mid-season with the 54 and Ty, and I think he was just kind of, ‘Hey, man, I’ll come in here and see if we can’t get this thing heading in the right direction. This is a very critical car in our fleet. And Ty is critical to the future of the company. We need to get this turned around. If I can help make a difference, I will.’

“I don’t know that he chose or wanted to go through that, but he did it out of responsibility, maybe. But I think that the idea may have been that his director of competition role, I would assume, would have been superseeding in the long-term objective for him, right?”

Neither Gabehart’s exit, nor his subsequent touchdown spot, has been confirmed as of December 10.