After misfortune and bad luck ran their course on Chase Elliott and his #9 Hendrick Motorsports team, with the driver missing the playoff window big time, the 2020 Cup Series champion is yet again in a precarious position after a Vegas NASCAR’s golden boy, for the very first time in his career, has missed the playoffs—something he hasn’t done in the last seven seasons in the organization’s top-tier division.

With its star driver not making it to the playoffs, the scene became dark for Rick Hendrick and Elliott’s team. However, despite failing to meet the playoff expectations, Elliott made it up with speed, racking up valuable playoff points in an effort to bring home the owner’s title to his boss. But an awful practice and a race gone wrong at Las Vegas Motor Speedway put the pressure back on the driver. Reflecting on this, Elliott’s crew chief pointed out the aspect of the game that is usually overlooked by the media as he got real about the team’s situation.

Chase Elliott and Mr. H’s strategist get real about the driver-driven narrative in NASCAR

Even though drivers have a monumental task—one that requires constant grind to meet the fans’ expectations—racing has always been a team sport, with equal responsibility lying on the team as well. It’s more of a joint effort, with the team trying their best to get their driver the best equipment, fine-tuned to perfection, while the driver tries to make the most of it to make the team proud.

Now, coming to the crux of the matter, despite his underwhelming performance, Chase Elliott still has a chance to make his boss, a thin and narrow window that might get the #9 an owner’s championship instead of the driver’s title. Even though the driver failed to make the playoffs, he hasn’t taken his foot off.

the gas. He racked up 3 straight top 8 finishes in the round of 16, followed by 2 top 10 finishes in the round of 12.

Reflecting on Elliott and the #9 team’s ownership title contention, his crew chief, Alan Gustafson stated the obvious, revealing why the owner’s title is the one that matters. Speaking on NASCAR’s MRN Crew Call, he said, “It’s just an odd thing, ultimately, owners is really what matters that’s what you get paid all for and that what all the park the Trucks in the garage and the points and so everything is based off of owners but I certainly think from the media perspective there an issue of driver’s piece to be the pinnacle.” 

He then enlightened the community as he briefly mentioned the whole system, highlighting the significance of the owner’s title. “I feel like the industry and racing is ultimately done on the owners and financial side of it and then the public relations side and you know the entertainment side is focused on the driver for whatever reason so it does make it confusing but really ultimately you know the owners is what for us at least is what is comparable to our competition.”

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Gustafson reflects on Elliott’s Vegas disappointment and hypes up the upcoming Miami race

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Amidst the chaotic 2023 season that involved an unfortunate accident and a 1-race suspension, ultimately leading to Elliott’s downfall, the driver has done pretty well to salvage off the remaining races. Eliott bagged 3 top 8 finishes in the first playoff round and picked up 2 top 10 finishes on his way to Roval, where he won stage 2, picking up more points.

However, last week’s race in Las Vegas got the momentum off of the #9 Chevy’s slip during practice took the driver and his team back to square one. A brief contact with the wall got the driver to start the race from the last, and the backup car’s inadequacy got Elliott a P32 finish.

Keeping all that aside, when asked about how things have been going on in the team, Gustafson, said, “Certainly our performance has been better.” Resting his hopes on the upcoming race in Miami, he said, “Licking our wounds from Vegas, it was uh disappointing performance, yeah, we’ll focus forward and try to learn from Vegas and improve for Homestead, certainly love racing at Homestead and South Florida is always fun, so looking forward to that. “

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