Spire Motorsports makes announcement after Chris | Sports News

Spire Motorsports has confirmed its crew chief lineup for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, with two months to go till the inexperienced flag lastly flies on the Daytona 500.

However, what’s most notable in regards to the announcement is who has not been included, with Chris Gabehart nowhere to be seen, regardless of persistent rumors not too long ago linking him with an offseason transfer from Joe Gibbs Racing.

Gabehart had served as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief with the No. 11 Toyota crew for six Cup Series seasons, serving to him win 22 races alongside the best way, previous to transitioning to develop into JGR’s Competition Director in 2025, a lot to the motive force’s shock.

With Gabehart changed by Chris Gayle, he and Hamlin would win a Cup Series-high six races in 2025, together with the sixtieth of the 44-year-old’s profession, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the tenth most of all-time. Unfortunately for Hamlin and JGR, they wound up stumbling on the ending line, main the finale at Phoenix Raceway for 208 laps till, with 4 to go, a warning brought about pit street chaos, prompting a combination of tire methods, which dropped Hamlin behind eventual title winner, Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports.

As for Gabehart, he wound up back within the pit box mid-season to help an ailing Ty Gibbs within the No. 54. “It’s no secret that what I’m most familiar with is these game-time situations,” Gabehart instructed RACER upon his return to pit street. “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.”

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The choice paid off, with Ty ending runner-up to Shane van Gisbergen on the following race in Chicago, happening to rack up one other two prime fives and 4 prime 10s.

Despite this, it has emerged Gabehart has left JGR with Hamlin having no phrases for his shock departure..

While his exit has but to be formally introduced, his rumored transfer to Spire additionally doesn’t seem to have but taken place. In the crew’s crew chief announcement on Friday, it lists Ryan Sparks as Daniel Suarez’s crew chief, Travis Peterson as that of Michael McDowell, and Luke Lambert of that of Carson Hocevar. Furthermore, Matt McCall is listed because the Cup Series Competition Director.

Where this leaves Gabehart, who continues to be listed on JGR’s website because the Competition Director, is unclear. Should he finish up leaving, Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. not too long ago mentioned on his podcast that he believes this is able to mark “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.

“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,’” Earnhardt recalled.

“So it is arduous to think about how he acquired away or what would have been the consequence or the trigger, I assume, of the departure.”