MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, was at his residence packing a suitcase for the weekend race at Martinsville Speedway final Friday when his boss, the boss, Rick Hendrick known as.
“He needed me to ship a message to the workforce,” Gustafson recalled. “The quote for him was, ‘this can be a marathon not a 10K race. We’re in it for the long term. Whatever the approach it begins, it’s about the best way it finishes.’”
And the best way it completed Sunday night on the Martinsville half-miler was optimum – precisely the outcome Hendrick, Gustafson, Elliott and the higher workforce had hoped to ship Chevrolet’s first victory of the season and the earliest win in a season that the 2020 collection champion Elliott had ever earned.
For the trouble, the 30-year-old Georgia-native now sits fourth within the NASCAR Cup Collection championship standings. The workforce’s strategic, hard-fought win was particularly encouraging contemplating it got here on a day when Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin, began from pole place, received each levels and led a dominating 292 of the 400 laps.
The return for Chevrolet to the winner’s circle was significantly important in a season when Toyota had received 5 of the primary six races and Ford, the opposite.
And because the cellphone name from Hendrick demonstrated, the motivational energy the revered championship workforce proprietor supplies shouldn’t be underestimated. Hendrick Motorsports is perpetually racing for wins and championships. That’s the minimal expectation.
And who may argue with Sunday’s outcomes?
“Generally that’s a kick within the butt, generally that’s simply help,” NASCAR Corridor of Famer and Hendrick govt Jeff Gordon reiterated of the boss reaching out to Gustafson. “He [Hendrick] needs it dangerous. No person’s extra aggressive than he’s. But it surely’s simply all the time fascinating to see how he views it and the way he feels what the workforce wants greatest.”
Elliott’s victory at Martinsville was certainly a shot of adrenaline for the four-car Hendrick workforce, which additionally contains two-time and reigning collection champion Kyle Larson and William Byron, who each had top-10 Martinsville finishes as properly.
And it was a official enhance for the complete Chevrolet contingent.
Toyota, with the assistance of four-race winner Tyler Reddick and Hamlin [who won at Las Vegas two weeks ago] has confirmed itself ‘The’ producer most on its recreation early on this season. Even with a Fifteenth-place end Sunday within the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, Reddick maintains a dramatic 82-point benefit atop the factors standings. Along with his win Elliott strikes into fourth place, first among the many Chevrolets, however nonetheless 104 factors behind Reddick.
“Man, that is superior,” Elliott stated of his early season victory. “Actually cool and going into an off-week too which implies we get to get pleasure from it for 2 weeks, not one.
“It’s the little issues, man. You type of study to get pleasure from that stuff. … I do know we nonetheless have a variety of room for enchancment, don’t get me fallacious, however nice method to type of cap off this primary stretch [of races]. Numerous good momentum for the entire group, actually, I feel.”
Whereas Elliott cautioned that his win Sunday – aided by a clutch late race technique name by Gustafson – doesn’t imply he and the remainder of the sphere have essentially “caught” the Toyota contingent. It does not less than present strong encouragement and a reminder that it’s nonetheless early within the season with loads of highly-motivated groups and drivers ready to provide Toyota a run for the large trophy
“I feel we’re nonetheless figuring it out,” Elliott stated. “However definitely successful, that’s petty self-explanatory, if you get that many extra factors from second you need to get that completed. How the remaining works out we’ll simply need to type of see as we go.
“It’s easy,” Elliott stated of his appreciation for workforce management. “We simply present up and go to work, man. We attempt to do the most effective we will to place the most effective outcome on the market for everyone concerned.”
