“Never Any Ill Feelings”: Chase Elliott Rubbishes Rumors of a Worsening Atmosphere in the No.9 Team

Chase Elliott stormed out of his winless slumber a few weeks back. After a fractured tibia sidelined his career for most of 2023, Elliott slowly but surely crept back into the racing scene. To aid him in this long and tedious process, his dedicated pit team stood by. And came the most awaited moment as Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 team swept up the trophy in Texas.

Elliott’s unique dynamic with his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, pushed him to this win. Working together since Elliott’s rookie year in 2016, the duo has gathered 19 wins so far. Such a long relationship demands a healthy, cooperative line of communication, as Chase Elliott recently revealed.

Transparency is key in Chase Elliott’s teamwork

Being the longest-tenured driver and crew chief pairing in the Hendrick garage, Elliott and Gustafson are on their ninth season together. Gustafson has supported Elliott through his highest (2020 championship) and lowest (missing the playoffs last year). Recently, he chided media people for not showing enough “respect” for the driver.

Chase Elliott missed out on a ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs last year. The No. 9 team floundered at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race in Daytona, and that sealed Elliott’s plummeting fate. However, the Texas win proved the doubters wrong. Now Chase Elliott elaborated on the unique relationship with his team to further rubbish rumors of failure.

Kevin Harvick got curious about the successful dynamic within the No. 9 team. On a recent episode of ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’, Chase Elliott addressed Harvick’s inquiry. Elliott boiled it down to healthy communication. “We can just have these open and honest conversations with one another that are hard to have.”

Chase Elliott further expanded on this angle, floating an imaginary scenario with crew chief Alan Gustafson. “Some days if I don’t feel like I’m doing my part, or he didn’t do his part, or vice versa, we can have these conversations, and there’s neve any ill feelings afterwards. ‘Yeah, you know what, you’re right. We gotta go back and make that better.’ It’s just how our working relationship has always been. It’s super simple in that sense.”

Chase Elliott showed admiration for his hardworking crew chief, highlighting the latter’s toned-down media presence. “I’m a huge fan of his…He’s not a guy that makes a lot of noise in the media, on the internet, or whatever. And that’s one of the things I love…He is just head down and focused on doing his job and ensure that he is elevating the entire team to be better, having the right people in place, pushing me to be better.”

This is not the first time Chase Elliott has openly praised his crew chief. Last year in August, people attributed Elliott’s mid-race failure to Gustafson. However, Elliott defended Gustafson from the preying media.

Elliott offered a shield for his crew chief’s reputation

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In August 2023, Chase Elliott’s already mounting problems had a new addition. His fuel tank ran dry at a critical juncture at the Watkins Glen International race. That was his second-last opportunity to make it into the playoffs, and the Most Popular Driver’s fans were thrown into a flurry of speculation. Fingers were pointed at his crew chief, who was blamed for the on-track mishap.

Yet Chase Elliott stood strongly by Alan Gustafson, trashing all criticism. “We have a lot of trust in one another and the job that we do. I think a lot of him, and I think he’s a great dude, he’s a great crew chief, and I don’t really care what anybody says about that because I work with him every week, and no one else does. So it’s kind of unfair, really, for anybody to feel like they have a good hold on what our team sees and the things we talk about every week and the things that we go to work on together, and I’m really proud of that.”

The driver-crew chief duo stand by each other through thick and thin. With this healthy dynamic, they are bound to storm into the playoffs this year.