The Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 team is bathing in showers of confetti after yesterday’s race. Chase Elliott scrambled out of his winless rabbit hole in Texas after a snowboarding accident sealed his 2023 fortunes. Besides a physical mishap, Elliott also faced problems in adjusting to the Next Gen Cup car.

The driver had admitted to magnified issues in adapting to the required driving style of the relatively new car. However, with the help of a dedicated crew, he was able to focus, without getting lost in self-doubt. Now, after the Texas win, his crew chief has further nullified any doubts about Elliott’s car handling.

Misgivings about Chase Elliott are strongly repealed

The Next Gen car was introduced in 2022, and immediately, it drew the ire of drivers. Safety was a pressing issue, as Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch were sidelined with concussions before the Talladega playoff race. Even Chase Elliott, who rarely gives his opinion, spoke out against the car’s inability to perform well.

This year as well, Chase Elliott called the Next Gen car engines ‘extremely inefficient’ as the maximum power is never achieved. Now that Elliott has finally won after a 42-race winless streak, his issues with the car have been called into question. However, crew chief Alan Gustafson firmly supported his driver, and that too with evidence.

Gustafson weaved Elliott’s story of success in the Cup car, labeling him as a “regular season champion in the first year of the car (2022), five wins to the playoffs…A snowboarding accident (in 2023)” as he continued, “Breaks his leg, has maybe not as good a year as we would have liked. But still, I think that the time he was in that car, his average finish was like 3rd or 4th best.”

Then, he broached the 2024 topic, ardently claiming Elliott’s superiority. “Now we start this season with this car…4th in points, one win, three top-fives. The average run position before we started was 4th, like, what am I missing? What is he not doing that he should be doing? I think he’s pretty good,” the crew chief claimed. When Bob Pockrass retorted with the other Hendrick drivers’ stellar performances, Gustafson had a cutting-edge comeback, remarking, “Well, I think we’ve won the same as Kyle this year…Be a little nicer to Chase, Bob, when he comes in here.”

Indeed, Chase Elliott put himself in the front row of the field before reaching Victory Lane. 

Elliott’s undying persistence came to fruition in Texas

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Elliott entered Sunday’s race with the series’ fourth-best average running position at 11.096, per NASCAR’s loop data. And a lot has gone into this glorious comeback. After his accident in 2023, Chase Elliott entered a dark phase in his racing career. Nothing seemed to go right, and he even feared losing out on his allies. But a steadfastly loyal No. 9 team and his own tireless efforts were all that was needed.

After snagging the trophy in Texas, Gustafson revealed the hard work that went into it. ‘I think it’s just, yeah, sometimes you can get in a little bit of a hole. You just have to fight, right? That’s the biggest thing I’m most proud of him and the team for, is just continuing to fight through it, make it happen,” he noted, adding, “It’s super cliché and cheesy, but you just never give up. You learn that if you don’t give up, eventually, things are going to turn around. I think that’s probably going to be the biggest lesson he takes out of that.”

With Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 team basking in its newfound glory, let us see what new heights Chase Elliott soars to this season.