As Denny Hamlin rocketed to the lead and victory in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, spectators saw the driver take control of the race in overtime.
However, it was a lightning-fast pit stop by the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team that gave Hamlin the valuable track position needed to jump from third to the point prior to the final restart.
Pit stops may be an undervalued aspect of NASCAR racing, but it was the difference for Hamlin at the .75-mile D-shaped oval.
As he pondered what makes his crew gel so well on race day, Hamlin pointed to the consistency of having the same group for a lengthy period of time.
“I think just from my standpoint, these guys have had time to mesh,” Hamlin said. “They’ve had a few years now working together. The whole pit crew department really went through a lot of changes over the last couple years. It’s starting to show fruit.
“My team, I was looking at kind of the average ages of all the pit crews, mine is definitely on the lower end when you average all the ages up. For them to now be on top of their game and be young, they’re right there at the top already. Who knows how far they can go?”
Hamlin said he and crew chief Chris Gabehart have built their relationship in a similar fashion since they were paired together in 2019.
“There’s a lot to it when you can get people working together,” Hamlin said. “It’s no different than mine and Chris’ relationship. Over time you get to understanding each other, you know their next move.
“I think certainly with a pit crew that’s got a lot of choreographed stuff that they have to do, everyone’s watching each other’s toes, not stepping on each other, having that group working together for so long, it’s starting to show what it can do.”
As the engineer behind the crew, Gabehart credited the behind-the-scenes efforts for the team to not only pour their all into their craft, but to pursue even more.
“Really what I want to speak to is the intangibles because that’s where magic happens,” Gabehart said. “It’s people that believe that they can do more than they can as individuals.
“My team, not just my pit crew, my team, they pull the rope selflessly. They have to know they got each other’s backs. If you have a bad play or mistake, everybody is there to pick ’em up. “How can we help you be better? What do you need? That’s the special part. You see it in sports, all different types of sports.
“This group has all of the makings to put up the kind of numbers they’re putting up,” Gabehart continued. “It’s just so fun to watch ’em have fun. Again, that’s the 18 people I have on my roster.
“Just to watch the pit crew get to win a race like that, that’s their walk-off home run. It doesn’t get any better than that for a pit crew to win it like that. It’s just a joy to watch everybody working like this together.”