NASCAR CUP SERIES: ALL-STAR RACE

May 17, 2026

Chris Gayle

Heather Gibbs

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Heather Gibbs, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing here as the owner representative for Denny Hamlin's All-Star victory today.

We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Heather, it looked like another Toyota dominating day. How did you feel about your cars and your team overall being able to lead so many laps?

HEATHER GIBBS: Well, I mean, today shows you why it's good to have four cars, having two in the front and two in the back.

I mean, it was great. Obviously Chris and James called a great race. Obviously Denny and Chase did a great job managing the tires throughout the run. I thought they put on a really good show, but just happy how it finished.

Q. We've heard a lot over the years how Joe feels with two of his cars racing for the win. How are you feeling seeing the two of them side by side?

HEATHER GIBBS: Well, I think I've heard enough stories about that and watched it. It was a little nerve-wracking towards the end. Chase was so good on the short runs. Knowing that he got around Denny on that restart, but Denny is a master of studying and watching where you're going and just riding and learning throughout the race.

I wasn't too worried. This year has been really good for our team. With the crew chiefs and the drivers, it's just been a great rallying year for everyone. So I knew they'd race each other hard, but they wouldn't wreck each other.

Q. Anytime that a team signs an older driver on the back end of his career, it's always kind of a risk. There is typically a performance drop-off with a lot of drivers. How has it been for the company to give him the opportunity to finish off his career the way he wants to but also continue adding the accolades during his time at JGR?

HEATHER GIBBS: I would say with Denny, every Monday when we have our driver meetings, it's kind of like a master class. He has so much wisdom, so much experience. He's great with giving feedback and talking to, like, Ty. He'll work with him a lot.

Having him, he's still at the top. He definitely hasn't fallen off. I think we keep joke being, Hey, what about another year? To have someone to be able to step into the 11 car and win, you're not going to have that. Denny is kind of a legend in that car.

I can't even imagine thinking of filling someone, putting someone else in that car. I think he's done an incredible job. He's done such an incredible job with our sponsors. Progressive, we went up there to Cleveland this week and spent time the entire day from 8 to 6 with their leadership, with Mari and Trisha, who is the CEO, and Mari is the CM0, and about 600 agents. He took pictures with each and every one of them, shook hands, and talked to them.

There's definitely no falloff and I think a lot of wisdom to be learned from Denny.

Q. It might be the same answer, but we've heard from Coach and leadership over the years, but in your time assuming more leadership responsibilities, what has been your interpretation of what Denny has meant to the company?

HEATHER GIBBS: I think Denny also being a team owner, as well, he's seen the whole different side of how important it is to connect with the sponsors, to connect with leadership.

Really, he spends more time in the sim probably than anyone else. When we were landing at the track, sometimes when we have the helicopter landing, and I'm, like, There's Denny at the sim. He is a huge part of our program, just working with our aero department, with all the different groups. He's been an integral part of our performance and hope he will.

I mean, we have a great, great relationship with 23XI. I just see that moving forward.

THE MODERATOR: We've also been joined by today's race-winning crew chief Chris Gayle.

We'll continue with questions.

Q. Ty raced his way through the Open. I wonder your impression, if you had one preference of having the Open separate or everybody race together?

HEATHER GIBBS: I think having the Open separate is fun because it separates the All-Star. First of all, every week I feel like is an All-Star Race, every time you show up at the track.

Having it separate is kind of fun. The ones who win, you're in, and they got to watch and learn. I'm sure crew chiefs learn from the Open race, what happens. I think it is fun. Then you get major street cred when you race your way out of the Open race and you're in the regular race.

I think there is something it's rewarding about that.

Q. Chris, Dover has a long history of being a track where the best teams show out. This was not a points race, but the factors that were different today, even though this was the All-Star Race, does this show you're the very best here, and it carries over to the rest of the year?

CHRIS GAYLE: I think we've shown that all year. We don't necessarily have as many wins as we could have, right? There's been two, maybe three we left on the table, and led a lot of laps. I feel like we've kind of done that all year. I think I saw a stat. He's led the most laps he's led to some point, maybe this a week or two ago, in the start of a season. We obviously we did more of that today.

You talked about all the things that were different this week. I think for us, that is what shows the strength. This was the third event where we come into a different aero package, more horsepower. We did that at Darlington. We did that at Bristol.

Honestly, we weren't very good at either one of those. We weren't as good as we need to be. The 45 ran away from us all at Darlington. Bristol, we were fifth to 10th, but not good enough.

Today we were able to use those two lessons, improve on the car, and unload with what we really needed this time. I hope that bodes relevant for Nashville, Gateway, those same tracks that are going to have the same aero package, horsepower changes later.

Q. Chris, the Dover tire is a beforehand new right tire. If you can give me a little more technical what was different about it. Then, number two, you had a tire you knew about and a tire you didn't know anything about. Is it harder to simulate when you have an unmatched set like that?

CHRIS GAYLE: A little bit. I think it was a different left side tire construction. I think the compound was the same on the right side. So it was a different stagger, a smaller tire on the left side. We can kind of account for that, the size of the tires, in our simulation, so we always do because you have variations in that week to week. We can account for that.

Then I think you just have to make some assumptions. We get tire data from the tires, but it's not perfect, right? It's done at SoVa. It is a different set of circumstances compared to the racetrack. You still have a catalog of that kind of stuff. So we are able to make choices based on doing those kind of things at other places. Once your notebook is big enough, I think it allows you to do that with some confidence.

Q. Chris, given where Denny is in his career, the trajectory of drivers in their 40s, it would not have been a surprise if he would have tapered off a little bit. How much responsibility did you place on yourself to ensure Denny Hamlin stayed Denny Hamlin?

CHRIS GAYLE: That's a good question. Not as much as you would think, meaning I think that he's unique. You've seen him not taper off. I think that he has a huge desire to not taper off, have to quit that way, right? He wants to quit on top.

I don't think that necessarily I've been able to influence that, other than that's internal to him. I've been able to hold him accountable on a few things: We scheduled this, we're going to do this, we can't move this around. Hey, we all agreed to do this. That goes across the board with him or the entire team.

I think the team's hungry and he's hungry, right? He's getting to the end of his career. You talk about, there's not many in front of him anymore. Every one is probably more and more sweet to him at this point.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you both. Congratulations.