Chase Elliott and Joey Logano are both strong contenders for the 2024 Cup Series championship. Their playoff spots are secured and their cars continue getting tuned to perfection through the regular season. However, the battle between the two stretches beyond just their performances. This is because their crew chiefs Alan Gustafson and Paul Wolfe have their boxing gloves on this season as well.
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The duo is amongst the most successful crew chiefs in the active field with 39 Cup Series wins each. Only Rodney Childers has more wins than them, standing in at 40. Gustafson’s story begins at the 2005 Daytona 500 where he was put in charge of getting Kyle Busch to victory lane. 699 races later he has firmly placed himself as one of the greatest leaders of the current generation.
Chase and Alan yesterday… 😍💙
(📸 Motorsport Images)#di9 #teamAG #NAPA9 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/pasFWWxYZu
— Alan Gustafson Fans (@alangustafson9) April 24, 2022
The upcoming race at the Michigan International Speedway will mark his 700th time helming a team. Through his two-decade-long career, Gustafson has won at least four races with four exemplary drivers – Busch, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Elliott. His pairing with Elliott is the longest driver-crew chief tenure as of now. On the other corner, Wolfe doesn’t wane in his achievements either.
👀 "I'm glad we had the cajones to do it. It was a bit of a high risk play."@joeylogano lauded crew chief Paul Wolfe's call to take 2 tires at the end of Stage 1, which helped net him another top 6 finish.
More on Behind The Wheel TOMORROW @ 9 am ET → https://t.co/1aUirPWIgB pic.twitter.com/EEMyvcbKTe
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) April 9, 2024
He is currently in his 14th season with Team Penske. Wolfe was the driving force behind the outfit’s first two championships by leading the Xfinity title charge in 2010 and the Cup Series charge in 2012. All 39 of his victories have come courtesy of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. His teams have produced at least one win in each of the last 12 seasons. All this and more put him up as quite the opponent for Gustafson.
Other crew chiefs with a notable number of wins
Adam Stevens, the crew chief for the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing crew aiding Christopher Bell in the Cup Series, follows closely with 37 wins. He is currently healing from injuries he sustained during a vacation during the Olympic break. Denny Hamlin’s Crew chief Chris Gabehart is as iconic as they come in this field. Helming the #11 team, he has secured 22 victories since 2019. He is one of the favorites and is expected to take Hamlin to his maiden championship this season.
Kyle Larson’s chief, Cliff Daniels, has 20 victories. The pairing is one of the strongest on the field and has produced four wins just this season. The #5 Hendrick Motorsports team leads the points table heading to Michigan and is a favorite for the championship. Rudy Fugle helms the #24 team of William Byron. He has helped the driver to 12 victories so far and has been a crucial part of the driver’s incredible growth.
It remains to be seen which one of these pairings manages to take their driver and team into victory lane as NASCAR prepares to restart the 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 on Monday after an initial rain delay caused the race to be red-flagged this weekend.
