Chase Elliott Fans Hound Around Hendrick Motorsports Crew Chief After Strange Radio Message in Richmond
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, looks on during the qualifying heats for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Chase Elliott is arguably the nicest, soft-spoken (with an exception), kind, and low-key NASCAR driver out there in the current crop. Despite being the face of the sport at such a young age, despite taking over the Most Popular Driver baton from Dale Earnhardt Jr, the Georgia native seems to be the calmest driver on the grid.
However, the same cannot be said about his fans.
This is all the more clear by the discourse around Alan Gustafson, Elliott’s crew chief, after the race in Richmond. For some context, there was a strange radio message in the race between the driver and his crew chief in which Gustafson came off as cagey about a problem that dropped the 2020 Cup champion way down the grid within the space of a few laps.
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Chase Elliott fans are so fucking funny, man! Sure, fire the CC that won him a title two years ago and got him into the Final 4 last season 😂😂
Definitely not the driver struggling to figure out the car… nope, it certainly can't be that pic.twitter.com/U5Fxq1wk4k
— Rence Brown (@rencethefence) April 3, 2022
I wish Chase Elliott would lose a wheel here that way they would be without AG for at least four freaking races..maybe we could win one #NASCAR #Number9 @Hendrick9Team
— Flint Chatooga ➐ (@FlintChatooga) April 3, 2022
AG blowing races goes back further than Chase Elliott driving.
— Coors9 (@Coors9Elliott) April 4, 2022
@chaseelliott Cmon Chase, be upfront with your fans. What went wrong with your car that AG said on the radio that he’d tell you what’s wrong after the race.
— JPC III (@63JayCee) April 5, 2022
AG and pit screwed him over again just like the weekend before. AG needs to get fired! When Chase fell like rock, he asked Alan what happened. Alan told him he knew and just hang in there. A lot of people think he put scuffs on to save new tires at last pit.
— Zoey Noel (@BarbGoss3) April 4, 2022
So how long does @TeamHendrick let AG screw Chase’s day over by bad calls and zero strategy? Because it’s becoming a glaring issue now. #di9
— Hot Takes and Hostility (@615Hockey) April 4, 2022
Chase didn’t ask for anything yet AG took a swing on the car and made it horrible. How is that Chase’s fault?
— Kyler (@kyler_may_9) April 3, 2022
What did Alan Gustafson tell Chase Elliott that has his fans riled up?
During the race in Richmond, the Hendrick driver started in seventh on lap 253 but within 3 laps, he slipped back to the eighteenth position because of an unexplained problem.
This unexplained problem and him falling behind were then followed by some curious exchanges on his radio between him and his crew chief.
“I don’t know what happened to this thing dude,” Elliott told his crew chief on the radio. “Just be nice and smooth with it, just take care of it,” his crew chief replied back.
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As for what the problem really was, when Elliott asked his crew chief, Gustafson said it was “another problem.” “I’ll tell you later,” he said.
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JULY 17: (R-L) Chase Elliott #94 talks with Ray Evernham on the grid during practice prior to the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience event at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on July 17, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Dylan Buell/SRX via Getty Images)
So far, neither Gustafson nor Elliott has clarified what the problem was.
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As a result, it seems like the fans of the driver have decided who to blame, not only for the Richmond race but for Elliott’s recent shortcomings.
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