It was a risky strategy. With the white flag approaching at Kansas Speedway, Alan Gustafson took the gamble and allowed Chase Elliott to take four new tires in the final pit cycle, making him one of only a few drivers to do so. The decision paid off, as a debris caution with just 15 laps remaining led to most of the top cars just replacing the rubber on the right side. And even though the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy lost four spots in the process (4th to 8th), it ultimately paid off when the race went to an overtime finish.

With the result, Elliott has locked his place into the Round of 8 playoffs. But going by how the race was progressing, and Gustafson’s controversial strategy calls in the last few weeks, many expected the story to be very different at the 1.5-mile oval.

Chase Elliott opens up about his challenges at Kansas Speedway

Chase Elliott had his work cut out for him at Kansas Speedway. Qualifying in fourth place, the Hendrick Motorsports driver remained in the hunt right from the time the green flag dropped, finishing third in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. However, it seemed like the Toyota cars just had a little extra speed at the 1.5-mile track, with Denny Hamlin leading 159 laps, while Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace were also up top. Knowing that a gamble was needed to get something out of the race, Gustafson was forced to make a drastic choice.

Opening up about the tire gamble and how it nearly backfired, Chase Elliott said in the post-race press conference, “I feel like, every time we ran a few corners, our advantage was going away a little bit. And they were really hard to get clean, the tires. You know, I was working them really hard those last couple, and especially the last one. They were just difficult to get cleaned off, have grip, like you know, a set of stickers would have. So, every time we scuffed them, I thought that the advantage from two to four was getting smaller.”

But the gamble could have very easily backfired. Recognizing the risk, Chase Elliott admitted, “A couple of those restarts that we lost spots on, you know, guys would dive into the bottom, and they would catch the timing line, the caution would come out. So, you lose a couple of spots that probably wouldn’t have been lost spots if you would have just seen what happened at the next straightaway.” Before the race in Kansas, Hendrick Motorsports struggled to make its mark in the playoffs, with Joe Gibbs Racing sweeping the Round of 16, while Ryan Blaney triumphed at New Hampshire last week.

But it seemed like Lady Luck was finally on the side of NASCAR’s most successful team this time around. Despite his tire struggles early on, Elliott’s fortunes changed eventually. Restarting fifth in the outside lane, the Georgia-native put the pedal to the metal going into Turns 1 and 2. By the time the white flag was waved, the No. 9 Chevy had already gone from 10th to 5th, and from that point on, the 29-year-old made his way past the three Toyota cars, slamming into the left side of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 to cross the checkered flag just 0.069 seconds ahead of his rival.

Alan Gustafson is at the top of his game

It seems crew chief Alan Gustafson has been making some pretty shrewd strategy calls in recent weeks. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he ensured only the right-side tires and fuel were attended to on Lap 150 during the sixth caution, a decision that helped Elliott finish seventh in Stage 2, picking up four stage points. His second pit strategy call came during the final caution of Lap 253, where the Hendrick Motorsports driver was one of only two drivers on the lead lap to stay out.

Restarting just behind the leader, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott didn’t have the speed or the tires to compete for the win, but the No. 9 Chevy did finish strongly in fifth place. That’s a significant improvement, especially considering that the Georgia-native started the race in 27th place. Elliott praised his crew afterwards, saying, “I thought everybody on pit road did a great job with a terrible stall. Hats off to our pit crew, really everybody across the board on our NAPA team just executed a good race. Alan called a good race, obviously staying out there at the end. We made our bed there with running long at the end.”

With a spot in the Round of 8 already assured, Chase Elliott and his team will rest easy going into the upcoming fixture at the Charlotte Roval. While the Hendrick Motorsports driver was once hailed as a ‘Road Course King,’ he won’t be under pressure to perform at the Bank of America Roval 400 next week, and will be focusing on the upcoming Cup Series fixture in Las Vegas instead. Do you think he could go on to compete in the Championship 4 at the end of the year? Let us know in the comments!