Kevin Harvick reacts to Ty Gibbs crew chief Tyler Allen’s success after Chris Gabehart experiment

With Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 team struggling midway through the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, then Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart took over the duties atop the pit box, replacing crew chief Tyler Allen. Gabehart eventually turned those duties back over to Allen, who remains in the position today.

This past Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Allen sat atop the pit box as Gibbs picked up his first career win in Cup. To think, it could have been easy for JGR to move on from Allen after a chaotic 2025 season. They didn’t, and it looks to have been the correct decision. Kevin Harvick credited Allen for “absorbing” everything that he went through last season.

“Putting Gabehart in that position last year on the pit box, and him not quitting or getting fired — there’s a number of ways he could have just been gone,” Harvick said on the latest Happy Hour podcast. “Absorbing that, learning, progressing in his career to be a better crew chief, a better leader, whatever happened in all those moments, he absorbed them.”

Ty Gibbs got it done at Bristol thanks to bold call from Tyler Allen

Allen had a crucial call to make late in the race. After a caution came out with Gibbs out front, fellow contenders Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson came down pit road for fresh Goodyear tires. Allen opted not to send Gibbs down pit road, meaning his driver would have tires with nearly 100 laps more wear on them.

That decision worked out. Gibbs held off Blaney and Larson to win in overtime. Harvick was impressed by that gusty call from Allen.

“That’s not an easy call at the end of that race, especially when your driver is like, ‘I gotta have track position, I’m staying out,'” Harvick said. “That’s what Ty was saying on the radio, and not overruling him and saying, ‘OK, I think we need to come in and put two tires on or no, we need to put four tires on.’

“Whatever the scenario could have been right there, he went with his driver, and they kind of made that bed together as far as what was going to happen. In the end, it won them the race.”

Gibbs is finally a winner in Cup. He now sits fourth in the points standings after eight races.