The 2023 season stood out in Chase Elliott’s Cup career in the worst possible way. Just the fact that he failed to make it to the playoffs for the first time in his tenure as a Hendrick Motorsports driver, says everything about how miserable it was for him last year. But that doesn’t mean he cannot bounce back this year.
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Despite the hurdles resulting from all the missed races due to that one snowboarding accident earlier, Elliott was able to record seven top 5s, 15 top 10s, leading 195 laps throughout the year. Interestingly, he even managed to get his #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy in the playoffs for the owner’s championship.
This year, the goal is the same; winning races and perhaps the championship. The former Cup Series champion said, “Winning would be great. Winning a championship would be great. We just want to have pace on a week-to-week basis and that is where my head has been for a long time. I want to show up and have a shot every week. I think we are very capable of doing that but you’ve got to be perfect.”
Furthermore, the Dawsonville native wants to regain his speed and, with that, his winning momentum. “If you are not perfect, you have to be really close to it and just keep yourself in contention. That’s really where I am at with it. I want to have pace, be fast and be in the hunt more often,” he added.
A pleasant surprise for Chase Elliott about his pairing with his crew chief
Alan Gustafson is one of the most distinguished crew chiefs in the arena of NASCAR today. The 2020 Cup Series championship winning crew chief is coming back for his ninth year with the #9 team in 2024, making his pair with Elliott, the longest active driver and crew chief pairing in the Cup Series garage. Interestingly, Elliott himself wasn’t aware of that.
“We have such a solid working relationship. It just makes each week way easier and better when that is the case,” admitted the 6-time winner of the Most Popular Driver Award. “He and I are very similar in a lot of ways and kind of look at things from a similar view. That helps our relationship at the track and ultimately, we have the same goals in mind. It’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that we were the longest pairing. I guess we are both getting old.”
Throughout their first eight seasons together, the Elliott-Gustafson duo bagged 18 victories, a Cup Series title and a prestigious All-Star Race victory. Currently, Gustafson is the second-winningest active crew chief with 38 triumphs to his credit. Indeed, their chemistry loudly reiterates the age-old saying: old is gold.
