Denny Hamlin’s crew chief makes his stance clear on the team’s straightforward strategy heading into Talladega

Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Chris Gayle, touched upon his team's stance for the upcoming Talladega Cup Series race. Speaking about it in a recent interview, Gayle stated that the #11 team would want to help fellow Joe Gibbs Racing drivers at the upcoming Alabama NASCAR race.

The Talladega Superspeedway is all set to host the second race of this year's round of 8 playoffs. With seven drivers still in contention for the Championship 4, the race is expected to be a fierce contest.

Amid this, Denny Hamlin and his team have a different approach after winning the first race of this round and qualifying for the final round. Speaking about their plan, here's what Gayle told Fox Sports recently,

"I mean, I think it's just go in and have a clean weekend. You know, if we can help push our teammates, we do have two Joe Gibbs teammates that are still need to get points and get in. So, I think it's just how can we help those guys um and help Joe Gibbs Racing acing as a whole if we can't help ourselves."

Besides Denny Hamlin, two other Joe Gibbs Racing drivers are still in contention for a Championship 4 berth: Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell. Apart from them, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Chase Elliott are also competing for a spot.

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When Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on working with Chris Gayle

In November last year, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they had moved Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Chris Gabehart, to the role of competition director. In return, they appointed Chris Gayle as Hamlin's crew chief for the next season. As Hamlin was about to work with Gayle, here's what the #11 driver said:

Denny Hamlin (11) arrives in victory lane following his victory of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

“I mean, I was worried,” Hamlin said. “Chris Gayle's résumé was not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination. He also had a lot of young guys that he had to work with. So, I just told Joe essentially, ‘Do whatever you think is best. I trusted you in the past when we've made these kind of decisions (and) I'll trust you again.’"

"I was worried. When I had those interviews that I talked about him and my apprehension, one of the first conversations I had with him, ‘I don't want you to take that personally, but this caught me off guard. I didn't know I was going to be in this position just a week ago," he further added. (Via Motorsport.com)

Denny Hamlin and the #11 team won the recently concluded South Point 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The JGR driver started the race from pole position and went on to finish it in first place, making him the first driver to achieve this feat at this track.