One of the most difficult personnel decisions a team owner can make is the pairing of a driver with a crew chief. It’s chemistry, the merging of two separate personalities to maximize the productivity of both.
There’s no clear blueprint either. People have so many different elements that dictate their behavior and decision making tendencies. Two similar individuals could be separated by barriers and conflict just as easy as two polar opposites might be.
Denny Hamlin, like many other drivers, has won races with a few different crew chiefs perched atop his pit box. Recently, he has enjoyed extensive success with Chris Gabehart over the past six years. The duo racked up 22 NASCAR Cup Series wins and finished in the top five of the final points standings in five of those six seasons.
But all good things come to an end, and Gabehart earned a promotion to Director of Competition for Joe Gibbs Racing beginning in 2025, leaving many to wonder if the No. 11 team could continue to perform at a high level following his departure.
While Hamlin’s win at Martinsville Speedway is a positive indicator, there is still much that will play out over the course of the season. It can be hard to get an accurate reading on the success of a pairing after just a few races.
Just ask Brian Whitesell.
If you don’t recognize that name, we’ll forgive you. It’s been over two decades since Whitesell appeared in his most prominent NASCAR headlines as a participant on a team.
Jeff Gordon burst onto the Cup scene in 1993 and turned heads for all kinds of reasons, including his first win. It was a brilliant piece of strategy by his crew chief Ray Evernham that landed him in victory lane for the first time in 1994. But once the team started winning, it opened the proverbial floodgates.
In one of the most dominant four year spans in Cup history, Gordon won 40 races and three championships. In fact, only 37 points in 1996 kept him from winning four consecutive titles. For perspective, at the time 37 points would’ve only been the difference between finishing first and ninth in a single race.
Gordon was immensely successful and it seemed to be largely due to a combination of his ability, the superior Hendrick Motorsports equipment and Evernham, the rainbow clad wizard calling the shots on pit road. Evernham was the best crew chief with the top driver on the best team. He’d never leave a plush situation like that, would he?
After participating in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for four years, Dodge was looking to return to NASCAR Cup competition. But they needed a flagship team, an owner who could spearhead the effort and the historic opportunity proved irresistible to Evernham. He abruptly resigned from his position at Hendrick Motorsports in October of 1999 and got to work on the Dodge program.
The No. 24 HMS team and Gordon were now without the only Cup crew chief they had ever known. It was also arguably one of the most desirable crew chief openings in NASCAR history. Gordon had five wins and sat sixth in points with seven races remaining in the 1999 season. He wasn’t going to win the championship, but this was still an elite team and driver with years of being a contender still laying ahead.
Now the question became who would be the next to wear the big headset. That question was answered prior to the next week’s race at Martinsville and the answer was Brian Whitesell. My reaction probably echoed that of many in and around the sport: who is Brian Whitesell?
Whitesell had been with the rainbow warriors since the beginning in 1993 as a chassis engineer and transporter driver. He was recognized as an excellent engineer but this was a whole new level of responsibility. He had never been a crew chief of any team. Not in Cup, Xfinity, Trucks, nothing.
In his first race, Gordon did exactly what he needed to make Whitesell look like a good choice. The No. 24 team ended up in victory lane and Whitesell looked as stunned during the celebration as many others had looked after he was announced as the new head honcho.
To make things even more bewildering, Gordon would win again the following race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Now Whitesell was two-for-two and Evernham was barely an afterthought merely two weeks following his departure.
But the honeymoon was short lived for Whitesell. While there was success on the track, the position didn’t suit him. Being a team manager seemed to be a much more attractive option and so, prior to the 2000 season, he was named team manager of the Dupont outfit. Robbie Loomis was brought in as the new long term crew chief for Gordon, a position he would hold until 2005.
Whitesell still serves in multiple management roles for Hendrick Motorsports. He even filled in as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. for one race at Dover Motor Speedway in 2009 but indicated that he had no desire to return to the position long term and he hasn’t done so at all since.
But he still holds the distinction of being the first crew chief to win with Jeff Gordon after Evernham’s departure. He also serves as a reminder that a couple good results don’t guarantee that a driver and crew chief pairing are a perfect long-term fit.
Frank Velat has been an avid follower of NASCAR and other motorsports for over 20 years. He brings a blend of passionate fan and objective author to his work. Frank offers unique perspectives that everyone can relate to, remembering the sport's past all the while embracing its future.
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