The Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway was a brutal wake-up call for Chase Elliott and his No. 9 team. A lap 311 crash, triggered by a chaotic shuffle in traffic, sent Elliott hard into the wall, ending his night in a dismal 38th place. The race was a tire-chewing nightmare, with a softer right side compound shredding under cool high 60s temps, catching teams off guard after smoother practice runs.

The Next Gen car’s quirks, stiff suspension, and wide tires amplified the chaos, leading to 14 cautions and a finish that left fans buzzing with frustration. Elliott, sitting just 28 points above the playoff cutline, went from contender to question mark, with his playoff fate hanging in the balance. Fans didn’t hold back, pointing fingers at crew chief Alan Gustafson for the No. 9’s setup struggles.

Bristol’s sandpaper-like surface has always been tough; Dale Earnhardt Jr. once called it “sandpaper on steroids,” but this year’s tire wear turned it into a survival game. While Christopher Bell’s fresh tire gamble secured a Joe Gibbs Racing win, Elliott’s night unraveled, and fans flooded social media, blaming Gustafson for missing the mark. Analysts, though, are stepping in to defend him, arguing the tire degradation was a curveball no one could’ve fully predicted.

Analysts defend Gustafson amid fan Backlash

On the latest Door Bumper Clear podcast, analyst Tommy Baldwin jumped to Alan Gustafson’s defense, pushing back on fans pinning Elliott’s Bristol disaster on the crew chief. “I don’t know what else we could do. I don’t think it was over camber issue. I don’t think it was an air pressure issue which is normally the reasons why we have… This wasn’t a tire failure, right? This is a tire wear and then goes to the cords and the cord breaks and it starts unraveling,” he said.

Unlike classic blowouts from over-cambered tires, like Kyle Larson’s 2017 Kansas crash, or low air pressure wrecking sidewalls, Elliott’s tire showed cords unraveling from sheer wear. This mirrored the 2022 Bristol Night Race, where Bell and Harvick faced similar cord-exposing issues, tagged by Goodyear as “extreme load” wear, not a team setup flub. Gustafson’s prep wasn’t the culprit; Bristol’s abrasive track and the Next Gen’s quirks were.

Baldwin doubled down, “Tire failure is when we are over cambered, we’re heating the inside of the tire too much, starts to blister and it pops and you hit the wall, right? Air pressure, you start too low, you go out, you run hard, it hurts the sidewall, same type of situation, tire blows. That’s a team thing. This wasn’t an issue that we were having because for those reasons.”

Elliott’s crash wasn’t a repeat of Hendrick’s 2019 Kansas setup missteps, where aggressive camber burned them. The 2025 Bristol tires wore to the cords naturally, a design choice by Goodyear to force strategy over speed. Gustafson’s calls kept Elliott in the fight until traffic and wear triggered the lap 311 pile-up, a racing incident more than a crew chief error.

He pointed to bigger issues, “So I don’t really know what else. I don’t know… Maybe less downforce, right? Maybe we go to the other [short track package]. Maybe that contributed a lot to it. Who’s going to say that once we do that, I’m not going to?” The Next Gen’s high downforce package, a sore spot since 2022, stresses tires on short tracks like Bristol.

Drivers like Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have pushed for less downforce, citing better racing at Phoenix in 2023 with a tweaked setup. Baldwin’s hint at the package as a factor shifts blame from Gustafson to NASCAR’s rules, which amplify tire wear but risk “boring” races if changed too much. It’s a tough spot for crew chiefs navigating uncharted tire territory.

The chaos left Elliott rattled, “Who’s to say that we won’t have the issue again. We’re going to have a boring race, we don’t know. So yeah, I don’t know what was funny with Chase and I’m going to go with a little topic. You know, he’s getting interviewed. He didn’t even know if he was in and out of playoffs.”

Elliott’s post-race confusion, aired live, and echoed Jimmie Johnson’s 2018 Roval panic when a crash left him unsure of his playoff fate. Sitting 28 points above the cutline, Elliott’s 38th-place finish made the math murky, fueling fan frustration. Analysts argue Gustafson couldn’t have foreseen the tire wear’s intensity, but fans still see the crew chief as the fall guy for a night where Bristol’s chaos trumped preparation.

Elliott’s teamwork plan mid playoff pressure

While fans roasted Gustafson, Chase Elliott stayed focused on the bigger picture, laying out his approach to teamwork at Bristol. Qualifying a lackluster P16, last among Hendrick’s Kyle Larson (+60 points), William Byron (+39), and Alex Bowman (-35), Elliott knew his No. 9 needed a clean run to stay safe in the Round of 16.

“We have expectations that we put upon ourselves and of our individual teams that we want to go out and execute, and I understand that of them and their team. Fortunately, we have a good group and everyone understands that part of it. I think there’s definitely times where you have to be selfish, and that’s part of the deal,” he told the media. His spring 2025 Bristol P15, hampered by a weak qualifying, set the stage for a cautious strategy, but the lap 311 crash derailed it.

Elliott’s not just thinking about Hendrick, “There are opportunities where you can lend a hand, or at least not be a total jerk in certain situations. I think that just comes to general respect for your peers.” His call for mutual respect extends to the field, where tempers often flare in playoff crunch time. Unlike past Bristol battles, like Keselowski’s bump and run on Bell in 2025,

Elliott wants clean racing, even if it means balancing selfishness with teamwork. With Bowman in a must win spot and Larson and Byron safer, Elliott’s plan to avoid chaos didn’t pan out, and his 38th place finish left fans fuming at Gustafson. As the Round of 12 looms, analysts back the crew chief, but Elliott’s playoff survival depends on rebounding fast and keeping the faith of a frustrated fanbase.