Chase Elliott and his team pulled off a special move last weekend to secure a win at Martinsville. Pitting twice in the last stage might not be the best move in an ideal scenario, but it worked out for Elliott as he managed to beat Denny Hamlin, who led for 292 laps. The gamble of taking two pit stops in the last stage is a huge gamble, and while the win was massive for Elliott, a driver believes Hendrick Motorsports had an element of luck on Sunday.

Todd Gilliland considers Chase Elliott lucky to win

Todd Gilliland finished the race 23rd, driving for Ford as part of Front Row Motorsports. Talking about the race, Gilliland agrees that Elliott’s strategy was dependent on luck.

“I would say spot on. But also, there’s definitely a strategy,” said Gilliland. “Like, I think you see that a lot of days or a lot of races are now in that last stage. There are guys banking on caution in those, you know, last 20-30 laps. We’re here; obviously, it was much earlier, and it was very lucky, but I’m sure that was also part of their strategy, which was banking on caution there.”

Denny Hamlin expressed his views on the Martinsville race as he thought he should have won despite the strategy he adopted in the last stage. Gilliland, on the other hand,  gave credit for Elliott’s win to luck.

In motorsports, caution flags are that wild card that almost every team wants desperately. Some do not get it, and some are able to utilize it fully and turn heads in one moment. Just like Kyle Larson did during the Championship 4 race last year against Denny Hamlin. Similarly, Elliott and his team were able to put two and two together and bring home the victory when no one was expecting them to.

Even Tommy Baldwin believes that it was their last resort to salvage a victory from nothing. 

“Oh, he had no choice. He would have no choice. He was live or die,” said Baldwin. I think they were just trying to get track position at the time and maybe hope for a caution. You’re praying the whole time. And that caution did come out, but after everybody was in.”

Nevertheless, almost everyone agrees that it does not take away Gustafson’s talent as a crew chief at all. In the end, it was his brilliance that allowed them to take the risk. Gustafson has a reputation for being a winner, and that is why his team was able to execute the strategy rather perfectly.

NASCAR Insiders defend Gustafson against hate

“Alan is a really, really, really good crew chief, and the fact these people have been calling for his head for three years is kind of ridiculous. I don’t even want to. There’s no sense even.” Freddie Kraft was not going to hold back any words while calling out the hypocrisy of the critics.

Even Jeff Gordon has come forward recently to give his own bold take on the entire matter. In fact, almost all members of the NASCAR community praise Gustafson for being able to think in a situation where most would give up and try to salvage what’s left.

Todd Gilliland summarized it quite effectively.

“That’s just social media in general. Yeah. No matter what you do, it doesn’t matter. You can get to people and, like hear they can hear your opinion way too easily, but that’s the world we live in,” said Gilliland.

One thing is for sure: Chase Elliott and Alan Gustafson answered the criticism against them in the best manner possible. By winning the race when it mattered the most.