'Prayed over' personnel changes at Joe Gibbs Racing paying dividends

LONG POND, Pennsylvania — Joe Gibbs knows a thing or two about winning. 

As a coach in the NFL, Gibbs won three Super Bowls. As a NASCAR team owner, he's won four Daytona 500s, four Xfinity Series championships and five Cup Series championships. 

Gibbs' history of winning begs the question: What happens when the winning stops and uncertainty in regard to results starts to creep in? 

That's the situation Gibbs found himself in a year ago, when Joe Gibbs Racing failed to win a Cup Series race over the final 18 events of the season. That led to several major personnel changes at JGR, including crew chief Chris Gabehart becoming the organization's new competition director, Tyler Allen being promoted to a Cup Series crew chief and Chris Gayle moving from the pit box of Ty Gibbs to that of Denny Hamlin. 

But it was a move that was accidentally confirmed by JGR driver Christopher Bell in June 2024 that may have been the most influential: tabbing Chase Briscoe as the replacement for a retiring Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota. 

Despite this myriad of changes, JGR has won seven races in 2025, including Briscoe's first triumph with the organization at Pocono Raceway on Sunday. 

"It's the people," Gibbs said when asked about what went into the turnaround. "For example, Chris Gayle — we signed his contract when things weren't going well a year ago because we think the world of him. We decided to make that change that we made, and he's jumped right into the No. 11 spot. The other part of it, we took Chris Gabehart and moved him to competition director." 

"Inside our race team, we were doing a lot," Gibbs continued. "All those moves were really thought over (and) prayed over. We have great people, and we made those changes. You're never sure in pro sports. But it certainly has been rewarding."

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.