After missing out on a race win by the tiniest of margins, Chase Elliott finally found himself in victory lane earlier last week at Martinsville. He chased down the dominating Denny Hamlin to clinch his, Hendrick Motorsports’, and Chevrolet’s first race win of the season. But it would have been impossible to achieve this feat if it weren’t for the call that Alan Gustafson made during the race’s final moments, which proved to be the turning point for his run.

Chase Elliott boasts his crew chief

“Alan’s call got us up in there to have a shot to race and straight up.” Chase Elliott and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports group weren’t huge on pace at Martinsville, as their story has been in the season so far. However, Gustafson made a call to pit Elliott before the race leaders did, essentially undercutting the entire field. Although this did not give him the track position he needed, he had fresher tires.

But at the same time, a bit of luck played on his side, as a late caution came out later in the race, and Elliott found the advantage and put himself in front of the pack.

“It was really kind of where my mind was at the whole time. And that, from my perspective, that wasn’t the first time we’ve been in a situation like that, where we’ve got the lead or had a good pit stop or whatever it was for the last stage or the start of the last stage,” he explained.

This was essential, considering the racing that Martinsville Speedway provides. For years, it has been a difficult place to perform overtakes, so racecraft doesn’t help drivers. In fact, even the smallest of bumps can end up in wrecks, as it happened with Bubba Wallace, which triggered the caution.

Even after snatching the lead, the #9 Chevy driver had to fight immense battles with Denny Hamlin. The latter had been dominating throughout the day, leading the pack and setting the pace. Overtaking him would have been extremely difficult in the later stages, and even when he wasn’t leading, his attack seemed impossible to avoid. But Elliott managed to defend his position and bring home his first race win of the season.

Denny Hamlin proven wrong? Why Elliott’s win is important for Chevrolet

This season didn’t start the best for Chevrolet, as even the reigning Cup champion, Kyle Larson, has failed to win a race. Now, while he has been competitive, that doesn’t fulfill the image that Chevy has formed in recent years with absolute domination. Instead, the Toyotas seemed to be taking that spot this year.

Interestingly, the OEM introduced a slight body change for this year on the ZL1, which could’ve contributed to the lack of overall pace. But Denny Hamlin denied it earlier, saying: “This is less of a downforce and drag change than what you have over the course of a race.”

“Interestingly, they’re acknowledging that they’re trying to figure it out, but yet I didn’t see anything numbers-wise that would alert me that this was going to be a learning curve type of moment.” While he seemed to be so confused with Chevy’s overall lack of pace, it seemed that Chase Elliott proved something essential on the track last week.

He took on the challenge against Hamlin, despite the pace advantage that the latter had. Moreover, he managed to hold onto his position. At the same time, this proves to be a turning point for Chevy. They have been struggling with pace this year, but his race win (thanks to his crew chief) proves that the OEM is making progress behind the scenes.