As soon as it became clear that Chase Elliott had run out of fuel mid-race at Watkins Glen, his crew chief, Alan Gustafson became an easy target. Many fans of NASCAR’s most popular driver believed that it was Gustafson whose costly mistake has now ensured their favorite driver has one last chance, nothing but a win at Daytona to save his season. But according to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who knows a thing or two about NASCAR, Gustafson shouldn’t be criticized.
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In fact, Earnhardt had the completely opposite opinion on the under-fire crew chief. The Hall of Famer was full of praise for Gustafson and the aggressive strategy he was hoping to pull off in a race in which there wasn’t much in the way of passing other cars.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. defends Chase Elliott’s crew chief
During a recent episode of his podcast show, Earnhardt Jr. shared his thoughts on Chase Elliott’s fuel disaster at the Glen and Gustafson’s role in the whole thing. He said, “Listening to the team’s comments after the race and Alan, the crew chief’s comments, he’s like, ‘Hey man, we can’t win the race doing what everybody else is doing.’ I think that’s great. He is a hell of a crew chief. He is a badass.”
Junior claimed that he liked what Gustafson tried as they were thinking of a different way to get to the front and win the race by coming for an early pit stop, fishing for a lucky caution, flipping it, and so forth because they didn’t have the pace to drive through the field.
“The top five didn’t change order, hardly much at all, in the last 30 laps of the race. Nobody was driving through the field, nobody. So even if his car was the best car on the track, he was not driving through the field,” Earnhardt described.
“So they had to do something, and he tried something unique and I tip my cap to him because it was pretty aggressive.”
Former HMS crew chief admires Gustafson’s aggression but calls out the mistake
Along with Earnhardt, who admired the aggressive approach Gustafson took in Chase Elliott’s second last chance to save his season, Steve Letarte also was appreciative of what the crew chief did. But at the same time, the former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief made his thoughts clear on who he thought was responsible for what happened to the #9 driver last Sunday.
“In the end, I like the aggression. I think it was needed from where they qualified. But a mistake, and there’s no other way to label this, but a mistake from Hendrick Motorsports and the #9 team running out of gas ends their chance of winning at Watkins Glen,” Letarte said.
Now, Gustafson’s fault or not, what happened, happened. At least that’s what Elliott and the whole #9 team must be thinking right now. Because they still have one more chance to save their season.
And that is to win at Daytona on Saturday.
