Denny Hamlin Claps Back at Chase Elliott Fans After Alan Gustafson Hate Blows Up

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway was nothing less than a spectacle. The race saw Chase Elliott, the sport’s perennial Most Popular Driver, put on a dominant display that ultimately ended in strategic disappointment. Entering the weekend, inclement weather unfortunately washed out practice and qualifying, leading to Elliott being awarded the pole position based on NASCAR’s metric system. Elliott’s command of the Monster Mile was undeniable, setting the stage for what many believed would be a straightforward path to victory lane.

He won Stage 1 of the race, leading an astounding 238 laps, the most he has ever led in a Cup Series race not in Martinsville. His car, crew chiefed by Alan Gustafson, appeared to be the class of the field for much of the event. However, as the race wound down, a critical juncture emerged with around 70 laps remaining, when a caution flag was flown due to rain. Opting for a pit stop, while some drivers took four fresh tires, the #9 team made the controversial call to take only two. This decision put him at a disadvantage behind Denny Hamlin, who opted to stay out with old tires. Gustafson’s decision, which caused Elliott to drop to 6th place, ignited a fervent debate among fans. But Hamlin sided with HMS this time.

Hamlin’s take on Elliott’s Dover fallout

In his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin, the ultimate race winner and co-host, offered a counterpoint to the fan outrage at Gustafson, dismissing it as “silly”. “I know, I get it,” said Hamlin, acknowledging the human tendency to seek blame. “It’s always gotta be someone’s fault why you didn’t win that day, but sometimes sh– just doesn’t work out. That’s racing.” He emphasized the immense pressure on crew chiefs in real time, especially when leading.

He pointed out, “He controls the race; he’s in the same position I was. But there’s no guarantee you don’t get run down. Alan said he wishes he had that callback. But, man, you’re the leader. Everyone’s always gonna do the opposite of what you do. It’s a no-win situation for them, and I don’t think they deserve any kind of critiquing for that. They’re making what, the right call for the information that they’ve got,” defending the crew chief. Gustafson is a cornerstone at HMS, serving as crew chief for Elliott since 2016 in what has become the longest tenured driver-crew chief pairing in the Cup garage.

In his 19th full season by 2023, he had logged over 650 Cup starts, assembling an impressive record: 39 race victories, 188 top-five finishes, and 324 Top-10s across multiple drivers, including Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Elliott. He also steered Elliott to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship and has guided the #9 team to three straight Championship 4 appearances from 2020 to 2022. So, Hamlin couldn’t see the reason why fans are hating him for one mistake. Rockhold, however, stood his ground on the right of fans to be critical, comparing crew chiefs to coaches in other sports.

“I’m not calling for his job, but I don’t see why fans aren’t allowed to be critical of him,” Rockhold argued. “This isn’t a hindsight call. In the moment, everyone was like, that’s a bad call. You’re the coach or the coordinator, and any other sports team would be critical of the coach making a bad play call or whatever. I think fans are allowed to be critical of crew chiefs.” This analogy would resonate with many sports enthusiasts who are accustomed to dissecting every strategic decision made by the team leaders. Hamlin, while conceding the right to voice criticism, reiterated his argument about the inherent knowledge gap. “I think you’re right. I get it. You have a special place in your heart for being critical on those people making calls. You do have a right to voice it. However, just understand that you don’t know all the factors that the team knows.”

He drew on his personal experience, stating, “I’ve learned this firsthand sitting on the pit box watching the 11-car race when I wasn’t in it, that they know far more than what even us drivers in the race car know.” In June 2025, when Hamlin missed the race in Mexico City due to the birth of his son, Joe Gibbs Racing tapped Ryan Truex as a substitute behind the wheel of the #11 Toyota. From that vantage, he observed how crew chiefs juggle live telemetry, adjust strategies for weather and evolving track conditions, and coordinate their entire team, something that drivers never fully see while wearing helmets at 200 mph.

Crew chiefs, as Hamlin humorously put it, “will tell you, ‘you tell me when the cautions will fall, I’ll tell you the perfect strategy’… So I think they felt as though they were going to restart no worse than third, which that’s where they were, and be on the freshest tires.” The decision to take two tires might have been a calculated risk aiming to restart no worse than third and have a chance to win with fresher tires, but it did not work out.

Ultimately, the debate touched on the intense pressure to win in modern NASCAR. As co-host Jared Allen remarked, “I think people just like, and we put so much emphasis on winning now in this era, that like if you’re not winning, you’re not having a good season,” which seems like the situation for every Cup team at the moment.

Chris Gayle’s game-changing call at Dover

Denny Hamlin wasn’t exaggerating when his 4th win of the season at Dover came after a race littered with rain delays, aggressive teammates, and a surging Elliott. “It was tough, those guys gave me a run for it, no doubt about it,” said Hamlin. While Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, both from JGR, threw punches at the defending winner, it was Elliott in the #9 who almost stole the show. A red flag caution with 14 laps to go set the stage for strategy roulette, and Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gayle, played it to perfection.

“The pivot was when the caution came out there… We had talked about, like myself, the engineers… we all thought staying out was the right thing to do.” Gayle knew the track favored clean air and made the bold choice to leave Hamlin on older tires. But one thing kept him on edge: “I didn’t know what the 9 [Chase Elliott] was gonna do.” When Elliott pitted, Hamlin pounced. “We were just waiting to see what the 9 is gonna do… When the 9 committed to pitting, we knew okay, we’re gonna get the front row, we’re gonna have clean air.”

Even though Elliott couldn’t convert his dominant performance into a win, he left Dover with a moral victory, leading the championship standings. Hamlin acknowledged his rival’s resurgence, saying, “He’s made a massive run, and it’s not just because of this one week. I just feel like they’ve turned the corner, and they are stronger now than what they were.” But as the Monster Mile reminded everyone, even when you lead most of the race, one pit call can change everything.