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.jpg) Gabehart after winning the2019 Daytona 500 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  American |
| Born | Christopher Allen Gabehart (1981-05-16)May 16, 1981 (age 44) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Cup Series |
| Team | TBA |
Christopher Allen Gabehart (born May 16, 1981) is an AmericanNASCAR director of competition and formerstock car racing driver. He most recently worked forJoe Gibbs Racing as their Director of Competition in 2025. He worked for JGR from 2012 to 2025, first as an engineer, then a crew chief in what is now theNASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and the crew chief forDenny Hamlin's No. 11NASCAR Cup Series car from 2019 to 2024. Before becoming an engineer and crew chief, Gabehart was a driver himself and won theCRA Super Series championship in 2007 and won theAll American 400 in 2008.
Gabehart began his career in racing as a driver, starting to race go-karts at age ten in theWorld Karting Association. Quickly succeeding in that series, he picked up numerous national championships before competing inlate model racing. He drove full-time in theARCA/CRA Super Series in 2007 for his family team. He won the series championship, but quit driving after that season due to sponsorship and financial issues.[1]
Gabehart met Tom Busch, the father of NASCAR superstarKyle Busch during his late model season in 2007, which led him to working as an engineer forKyle Busch Motorsports' late model program and later in the Truck Series for the team. Then, Gabehart would move up toJoe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series in 2012 as an engineer on Busch's No. 18 car.[1][2]
Gabehart's first crew chiefing job came in 2016, where he worked with defending Truck Series champion Erik Jones in his first and only full season in the Xfinity Series. They were in contention for the championship after a multiple-win season for the team, but lost the championship to fellow JGR driverDaniel Suárez. When Jones moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 2017, the car was driven by multiple drivers, including JGR Cup drivers Erik Jones, Hamlin and Suárez, as well as up-and-comersKyle Benjamin andRyan Preece. For2018, Gabehart moved from the No. 20 to the No. 19 to crew chiefBrandon Jones, who joined JGR that year fromRichard Childress Racing.[3]
In2019, Gabehart was assigned as the crew chief of the No. 11 driven byDenny Hamlin. Both Hamlin and Gabehart started the season by winning the2019 Daytona 500, breaking Hamlin's 47-race winless streak. With four wins, the duo finished the season fourth in the points standings.
Gabehart and Hamlin started the2020 season by winning their second (and Hamlin's overall third)Daytona 500. Gabehart was suspended for four races after Hamlin's car dropped a ballast prior to the start of the2020 Coca-Cola 600.[4] With a total of seven wins, the No. 11 team once again finished fourth in the points standings.[5][6]
On May 3, 2022, Gabehart was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss atDover.[7]
On November 22, 2024, JGR promoted Gabehart to competition director while Chris Gayle was named the new crew chief of the No. 11 car starting in 2025.[8]
On December 3, 2025, outside the courtroom during the23XI Racing v. NASCAR trial, reporter Jenna Fryer confirmed that Gabehart had left JGR and was rumored to be heading toSpire Motorsports in 2026.[9] However, there has been no official announcement regarding his status for 2026.
Gabehart was born and grew up inLouisville, Kentucky. He went to Indiana to attendPurdue University, where he met his wife, Jennifer Schafer Gabehart and graduated in 2005 with a mechanical engineering degree. He was the first member of his family to go to college.[2] Both Gabehart's grandfather Al Straub and father Kevin inspired him to go racing, as Straub had previously been a NASCAR driver in the 1960s and 1970s and his father had competed in NASCAR-sanctioned races at his home track ofLouisville Motor Speedway. Gabehart moved to the Charlotte, North Carolina area in 2010 to pursue a career in professional racing. He still resides there with his wife and 2 children, Leona Laine Gabehart and Fletcher Fitzgerald Gabehart.[1][10]
