Denny Hamlin was flying at Martinsville. He led 292 laps and looked every bit the winner. Later on he cheekily admitted even that he felt like the race was a little “too easy” that day. But call it Hamlin’s bad luck or Chase Elliott’s destiny that a call from the latter’s extremely fan scrutinised crew chief flipped everything on its head.

With around 130 laps to go, Alan Gustafson made a call. While everyone stayed out, he brought Elliott in early. It was a bold call, putting Elliott on older tires while everyone came in fresh. And predictably at one moment Hamlin pitted later and took back the control, and began hunting Elliott down. It looked like Gustafson’s gamble had backfired. But then came the break.

The caution with 89 laps to go reset the field, and just like that, Hamlin’s advantage vanished. This handed Elliott the track position, and just like that, he got his first win of the 2026 season and Chevrolet’s first Cup win of the year. And he didn’t forget to give credit where it’s due and also silence the critics of his crew chief.

“I enjoy working with him; I genuinely feel that way. I hope he feels the same way about me. I give him all I’ve got, even if it’s not pretty. We just show up and go to work, man, and try to do the best we can,” Elliott said in the post-race interview.

Now the fan sentiment being sour towards Gustafson is because their trust has been tested before several times. One of the most talked-about ones being the rough outing at Watkins Glen last season. That was Elliott going through a highly consistent period where for the first 23 races, he finished inside the top 20. But that streak snapped at Watkins Glen. Suddenly the momentum moved, and William Byron got an opening in the regular season title race. So doubts and noise about a change in the No. 9 pit box grew louder.

But this is also the same duo that won a championship together. In the last two years, Chase Elliott has bagged top 5 finishes, which include the runner-up finish from 2024. Yeah, we know, this doesn’t undo or make up for the missed opportunities, but if they stick by, they can deliver on track.

On Sunday Gustafson showed that is still capable of making fearlessly smart decisions. And he is thrilled with the results, and while he may have critics, he does have some loyal supporters, it seems.

Jeff Gordon says Alan Gustafson is his favorite!

In the middle of all the noise and the constant second-guessing, Jeff Gordon came out to give Alan Gustafson his flowers. “He’s my favorite,” he mentioned when asked about him. And this line matters, because Gordon knows Gustafson, given he worked with him during his own driving days. But that was not the only thing he said.

“I love this guy. I love the work and the effort he puts in, how smart he is, and the team he builds,” Gordon said. “Nobody’s a tougher critic than he is of the team and their performance.”

As for the criticism, Gordon just gives a heads-up that for any popular driver out there, whether it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Chase or anyone else, there are a lot of critics that want to sit on the sidelines and evaluate it. His message to Elliott and his crew chief: simply block out the noise. 

“You cannot let that tear you apart. You’ve got to keep strong on the inside and believe in yourself and believe in your team.” And by Chase Elliott’s statements, it doesn’t seem like his belief ever wavered. As for Gustafson, he couldn’t be more thrilled that his call worked.

“Super happy that it paid off; we were just kind of trapped in, like, tenth spot.” He added, “It was really hard to pass, so we needed to do something different. Mathematically, it was going to be close for us to split that run or two-stop it; I just felt like it was worth a shot.”