{"id":45589,"date":"2024-04-16T16:33:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T21:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=45589"},"modified":"2024-04-16T16:33:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T21:33:17","slug":"elliotts-journey-back-to-top-of-nascar-cup-series-brought-crew-chief-no-9-race-team-closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/16\/elliotts-journey-back-to-top-of-nascar-cup-series-brought-crew-chief-no-9-race-team-closer\/","title":{"rendered":"Elliott’s journey back to top of NASCAR Cup Series brought crew chief, No. 9 race team closer"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

FORT WORTH _ The maturation of NASCAR favorite son Chase Elliott was on full display Sunday during a post-race presser at Texas Motor Speedway 18 months _ and one snowboarding wipeout _ in the making.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Hooters Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Elliott snapped a nagging, 42-race Cup Series winless streak with a double-overtime\/green-white-checkered flag victory over Brad Keselowski in the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 that undoubtedly thrilled his devotees and temporarily at least silenced his detractors. And in the process of dissecting his day with the media, Elliott acknowledged that his 19th<\/sup> career Cup victory was mostly about \u201cthe journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

But from where-to-where? That\u2019s the easy part _ starting from the country roads confines of Dawsonville, Ga., to Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 corporate complex in Concord, N.C. The former is home to Chase\u2019s father, 1988 Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer \u201cAwesome\u201d Bill EIliott. The latter is the centerpiece of 74-year-old team-owner Rick Hendrick\u2019s racing empire, home to seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon, two-time Cup champ Terry Labonte and enough hardware to rival the nearest Ace store.<\/p>\n

In the case of Chase, the journey traces the giddy days of five wins he scored en route to his first Cup championship in 2020 to a winless, grinding 2023 campaign interrupted by a broken left leg suffered in a snowboarding accident in Colorado. In between, Elliott was reminded that the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team led by crew chief Alan Gustafson always will have his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the win (Sunday) is great, all that stuff is fantastic,\u201d said Elliott, still sporting the black cowboy hat presented to him in Victory Lane. \u201cTo me, honestly, this journey and everything about today is really a credit to the guys that sit in our meetings on Monday mornings in the No. 9 room. That starts with Alan. It\u2019s really easy when things go bad to jump ship, go do something different, for those guys to go elsewhere. It just is. It happens a lot.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Hooters Chevrolet, and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an extremely important thing to me, and fortunately to our entire group, to try to climb this mountain again together and try to get back to where we need to be as a group. We\u2019re not all together, but a lot of us are still there that have been on our team for most of my nine years. That\u2019s pretty special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at it as a credit to them because I think they\u2019ve made me better and they\u2019ve pushed me to be better, helped me identify some of my faults and some of my bad habits and been patient with me as I\u2019ve addressed them, or at least started to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like we\u2019re all in a really good place, and we have been. It\u2019s nice to see all the hard work pay off. Those guys really deserve to win. They\u2019ve been busting it for a while, have been doing a really good job. That\u2019s what I\u2019m most proud of, is the journey and all of us sticking together at the No. 9 team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott returned to Victory Lane Sunday for the first time since Oct. 2, 2022 at Talladega Superspeedway. It was Elliott\u2019s 19th<\/sup> victory in 295 Cup starts, first win on TMS\u2019 high-banked\/1.5-mile oval and second on an intermediate track in the Next Gen car NASCAR introduced in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Hooters Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag under caution to win the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Elliott\u2019s winless 2023 season and his ongoing love\/hate relationship with TMS\u2019 uniquely-banked layout combined to generate considerable buzz among NASCAR Nation\u2019s media and fandom about Chase\u2019s ability to adapt to the Next Gen platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to downplay it, (but) like I\u2019m not like, \u2018Oh, geez, we\u2019re on a losing streak,\u2019^\u201d said Gustafson, a 48-year-old native of Ormond Beach, Fla., in his 20th<\/sup> season at HMS. \u201cThat never comes into my mind. I never think about that at all. There\u2019s no clock on my desk that says it\u2019s been 10,225 days and a billion hours since you guys won. I just focus on doing the best I can and getting the team ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Gustafson politely deflected an inquiry along those lines prior to Chase\u2019s arrival in the TMS infield media center.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about Chase like he can\u2019t drive this car,\u201d said Gustafson, incredulously. \u201cI mean, he really can and he does really good. When you\u2019re struggling, you just kinda get after it more. I guess my point is if you look at his body of work in this car _ regular-season champion the first year of the car, five wins, two Playoffs, breaks his leg, has maybe not as good a year as we would have liked and now we start this season with one win, three top-fives\u2026what am I missing? What is he not doing that he should be doing?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I don\u2019t really know that this car doesn\u2019t suit him but maybe just not as well as the old car and the options we had with it. I think the old car (Gen 6), we were really in it _ we were in a position to win a lot. In 2022 we had it and lost it a little bit. But you\u2019ve just got to trust the process. Trust each other. Focus on improving, not getting caught in what you don\u2019t have. Focus on what you do have. We have everything we need to win with Mr. Hendrick and how he supports us. It\u2019s not anything special (Gustafson does) besides just being super, super-stubborn and resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, and crew chief Alan Gustafson talk on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 22, 2023 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Elliott soldiered through that winless 2023 season after fracturing the tibia in his left leg in a snowboarding accident in Colorado in early March. Forced to miss six races after surgery and rehab, Elliott placed 17th<\/sup> in the final standings after compiling seven top-five and 15 top-10 results in 29 starts. Despite questions about his judgement and career commitment outside the HMS compound, Elliott won the 2023 National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award for the sixth straight year.<\/p>\n

Elliott\u2019s previous best finish through this season\u2019s first nine races was third on April 7 at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like we go to the racetrack and just struggle and don\u2019t run well,\u201d said Gustafson, previously paired at HMS with Cup rookie Kyle Busch, veteran Mark Martin and Sir Jeff Gordon. NASCAR Hall of Famer Gordon was appointed vice chairman of HMS in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really can\u2019t think of a race this year that we weren\u2019t in contention to compete at least for a top-10 or even a top-five,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cI guess, what standard are you setting? I just feel like for us to get back to winning consistently that way we want to yeah, I think we\u2019re 90 percent there. That last 10 percent is super-hard to get _ to get to the level the No. 24 (of teammate William Byron) has been at recently, the No. 11 (of Denny Hamlin at Joe Gibbs Racing) has been at _ so we just need a little bit more. But I don\u2019t feel like we\u2019ve been failing, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a prime example of the positive reinforcement Elliott now expects _ indeed, looks forward to consuming _ during those early-week confabs over coffee-and-donuts with his pit crew and teammates who work behind-the-scenes at HMS.<\/p>\n

\"\"

NASCAR driver Chase Elliott talks to car owner Rick Hendrick at the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on September 24, 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Michael Haag\/Raceday San Antonio)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think that starts with Alan and his leadership,\u201d said Elliott, 28. \u201cI was, what, 20 or 21 when we started (in 2016). Alan had been doing it for a long time at that point. He\u2019s kind of watched me age and get older through an important part of your life, through your 20s.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that professional relationship with him, it\u2019s been great because he\u2019s just the kind of guy that keeps things right where they need to be. It\u2019s very easy to get up and it\u2019s easy to get down. He makes sure we\u2019re focused on the things we need to be focused on. Really appreciative of that. I\u2019ve learned a lot from that approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten to know each other a lot better over the years. Certainly our personal relationship has grown quite a lot. Admire him and appreciate him sticking with me, being willing to fight through this journey and our struggles. We can be open and honest and talk about why we were bad or what I did wrong or what he did wrong. We can look at each other and be like, \u2018All right, let\u2019s go back to work.\u2019 That\u2019s just kind of how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gustafson said there is a tendency for media and fans to have tunnel vision when it comes to the driver-as-hero. \u201cI mean, in this forum, everything\u2019s looked at through the lens of racing and performance and the sport of racing,\u201d said Gustafson, who has overseen 39 Cup wins, 198 top-fives and 340 top-10s. \u201cThere\u2019s life that goes on outside of this for everybody that most people don\u2019t take into consideration. He has his life to run\u2026he has trials and tribulations he has to work through. Yeah, being out with the injury and having to go through all of that, yeah, and maybe not performing to some people\u2019s expectations _ it\u2019s not something I believe. I feel like he\u2019s performed really well.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Hooters Chevrolet, and Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, lead the field to a restart during the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSometimes you can get in a little bit of a hole and you just have to fight. You learn that you just never give up and if don\u2019t give up eventually things are going to turn around. And I think that\u2019s probably going to be the biggest lesson he\u2019s going to take out of this. He\u2019s a young kid and he\u2019s going to learn you just got to grind through it. You\u2019re not always going to get a win. It\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Andrews, HMS\u2019 executive vice president\/general manager, said he is proud of the approach Gustafson and Elliott have taken to reboot during the first third of the 2024 schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two guys have an unwilling trust and belief in each other,\u201d Andrews said. \u201cThings haven\u2019t been where they needed to be in the last year, but they spent a lot of time this winter working on their team, their relationship, the relationship with both of them and their team. We couldn\u2019t be more excited to see all of that start to pay off for them both and that whole team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott added the HMS group he travels with throughout NASCAR\u2019s nomadic\/10-month season positively impacts morale. \u201cWe\u2019re around each other all the time, right?\u201d Elliott said. \u201cWe spend as much time with each other as we do with our families. It\u2019s important to make sure we\u2019re all pulling in the same direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just very fortunate that I am surrounded by the type of people that we can all be open and honest with one another, push each other to be better. Even when it might be something that you don\u2019t necessarily want to hear, it\u2019s well-received. That\u2019s growth. That\u2019s improvement. That\u2019s being mature adults.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio FORT WORTH _ The maturation of NASCAR favorite son Chase Elliott was on full display Sunday during a post-race presser at Texas Motor Speedway 18 months _ and one snowboarding wipeout _ in the making. Elliott snapped a nagging, 42-race Cup Series winless streak with a double-overtime\/green-white-checkered flag victory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":45568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[919,500,16,21],"class_list":["post-45589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-texas-motor-speedway","tag-autotrader-echopark-automotive-400","tag-chase-elliott","tag-nascar","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2148643106-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1760","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-bRj","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45589"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45594,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45589\/revisions\/45594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}