- Chase Elliott earned his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory at Dover International Speedway
- The win is the third of the season for Chevrolet and 40th victory for the brand at Dover. This marks the eighth track on the schedule that Chevrolet has 40 or more victories (other tracks where Chevrolet has 40 or more wins: Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Daytona, Darlington, Martinsville, and Talladega)
- The win is the 251st Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory for car owner Rick Hendrick
- The win is the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 race car’s third victory in the MENCS in its debut season as Chevy’s flagship vehicle in Cup Series competition.
- Chevy now has 778 all-time MENCS victories.
DOVER, Del. (October 7, 2018) – Never give up – Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 overcame two pit road penalties and put themselves in position to capitalize when it counted most to earn their second victory of the 2018 season in the Gander Outdoors 400, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race at Dover International Speedway. The win marks the second MENCS conquest of Elliott’s young Cup Series career and the third victory for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The triumph, after 400 grueling laps around the ‘Monster Mile’, moves Elliott and the No. 9 Camaro ZL1 team on to the next Round of this year’s Playoffs and keeps him in contention to compete for the season-ending championship.
“We had a (speeding) penalty there, early, and fell behind, said Elliott in Victory Lane. “Luckily, I had a good enough car and a good strategy to get back. Man, what a day. Just thanks to those guys, man for the perseverance and good adjustments throughout the day.
“It was just a great effort. I appreciate everybody and all my partners, NAPA, Valvoline, Hooters, SunEnergy1, Chevrolet, Mountain Dew, and Kelley Blue Book. It’s been an up-and-down year, I feel like. To have this race slip away last year makes the day that much more sweet.”
Chevrolet has now visited Winner’s Circle 778 times at NASCAR’s premier level. The win is the 40th victory for the Bowtie Brand at Dover, making it the eighth track where Chevrolet has 40 or more victories, other tracks include, Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Darlington, Daytona, Martinsville and Talladega.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, earned the seventh finishing position in the No. 3 AAA Camaro ZL1 rounding out the top-10 finishers for Team Chevy at Dover.
The other two Team Chevy Playoff contenders, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 earned the 12th finishing position after fighting an ill-handling race car the majority of the day and Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1, was poised to have a top 10 day, but was caught-up in a late-race multi-car melee, relegating him to a 28th-place finish.
Denny Hamlin (Toyota), Joey Logano (Ford), Erik Jones (Toyota), and Kurt Busch (Ford) rounded out the top five finishers.
The 10-race Playoffs continue next week with race number five, the 1000blubs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway; which is slated to commence on Sunday, October 14th at 2 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBC, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTS:
CHASE ELLIOTT, Driver, No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 – Race Winner
RICK HENDRICK, Team Owner, Hendrick Motorsports – Race Winner
JEFF GORDON, 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee, leadership member of Hendrick Motorsports
THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by our race winner, driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, Chase Elliott, and this is just a quick note, the 40th victory for Chevrolet at Dover, and this becomes the eighth track that Chevrolet has 40 or more victories at. A quick little Chevrolet stat for you guys there, and Chase, they always say the second win comes a little quicker than the first. Tell us a little bit about your last few laps there to pull off that victory.
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, everybody said ‑‑ we struggled for obviously a couple years to win a race, and they said, oh, once you get one, they all come easier, and I was like, oh, there’s no way that’s true at all. Certainly, didn’t come easy today, and just so glad we could get a win. Last fall was such a tough race for me, and as I’ve said to a bunch of people, that was probably the toughest day of my career, and just to be able to come back and kind of put those things behind you and prove that you belong is very gratifying.
Just thankful for the opportunity.
Q. Chase, Alan was talking a little bit about last year, and he said going through that adversity kind of helped you grow and get to where you are today. Do you feel like last year kind of helped you and today gives you a sense of redemption really where you got to today?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, I mean, it definitely makes you learn for sure, and it makes you appreciate a day like today more, I can assure you if last year wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t appreciate it as much as I do today. When you have those hard days, that certainly makes you learn and gives you no choice but to grow up a little bit.
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is when you have days like that, you’re just proud of the opportunity to be able to come back and be in a position to do it again. I mean, just for the thing to work out, to have a chance to win today, is crazy as is, a year later.
This is an important race. To be able to move on, huge. The same thing was riding on it last year and realized we missed out on a hell of an opportunity. Just a great effort today. Fell behind early and fought back to have a great shot there at the end.
Q. Chase, from what you learned from the race a year ago, is there anything that you really felt you put into use today, either kind of mentally or strategically?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, I think just mentally having a little more confidence in it. I think that last year you get in those situations, and you just ‑‑ yeah, I don’t know, but yeah, I think just having some more confidence going into that. It was no ‑‑ the ending was nothing like the race was last year, but it was certainly a tough ending with adversity, restarting on old tires and having those guys coming on fresh tires behind you. All that stuff adds up, and it certainly wasn’t the same complexion as the race a year ago. Didn’t win it the same way we lost it, but still, just to have some more confidence going into those restarts and things is great, and the more you’re in those positions, the better you feel.
Q. Chase, did you at any point question Alan’s decision to stay out on old tires? Did that make you think twice, what are we doing staying out on old tires?
CHASE ELLIOTT: No, I actually thought it was the move. I was shocked that those other guys didn’t stay out there with only seven laps to go. I just felt like ‑‑ I thought staying out was the right thing to do if you have a few rows of cars behind you. If that’s the case, I think you can make it happen if you do all the other things right. But yeah, I was shocked that at least one of the two of them didn’t stay out there at the end.
Heck, I don’t care. I’m glad they didn’t, so it worked out for me.
Q. Obviously, you’re happy that you won, but as someone that’s had heartbreaking defeats towards the end like you mentioned last year’s race, do you kind of sympathize with Almirola at all?
CHASE ELLIOTT: No. (Laughter.)
Q. Wondering whether or not you studied tape, film, whatever as far as restarts go, because you finished second so many times earlier in your Cup career. It really seems that you’re getting better at closing now.
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I’d like to think so. I just think doing it more. You can watch and watch that stuff to death, and you just won’t have the feeling in the car is not the same as watching it. So, I just think being in the position more often helps you learn, and until you’re in those positions more, it’s going to be hard to learn from. Doing it consistently, being in high‑pressure situations and enjoying those moments is the only way you’re going to get better at it. Just glad that we had another chance to do it today.
Q. At what point did you realize that, hey, this race might be mine?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, you never know if anything is yours until it’s over with. Certainly, felt like we were in a good position with those guys staying out. We had a couple rows of cars behind us that were also on the same strategy as us, so that makes you feel better about it. Does it make you confident, like you know you’re going to win it? No, but it makes you feel better about it. Like I said, I thought staying out was the right thing to do there, and I was glad those other guys went down pit road.
Q. Obviously with this win, you don’t have to worry about next weekend and you’re locked into the next round. How big of a weight off your chest is that?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Oh, huge. I mean, I think it’s nice to be able to know you’re going to move on, but you can’t get complacent in the fact that you are moving on, and you can’t let those points just sit out there and not try to go get them because those bonus points you get for winning or winning a stage or winning a race or whatever, that’s huge, and you need as many as you can get. One or two points could be the difference in you making the round of four or not. Just knowing that and not being complacent with the win and trying to go get another one or two before it starts I think is important.
Q. Chase, before the caution where you guys elected to stay out, you I believe were running some incredibly good lap times and I believe were the fastest ‑‑ you were being told you were the fastest car on the track. I just was curious first if you thought that that kind of speed in the race, if it were not for the pit road penalty, did you think you had a chance to race your way to the front?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, we certainly got it a lot better there. I never had a chance to run with Kevin. Obviously, he was really fast. But I thought between the 10 and the 41, I felt like we were pacing them there at the end, at least from what I could see. It’s hard to tell when those guys are half a straightaway or a straightaway ahead, but I thought we were close to them, way closer than we had been all day. We had made an adjustment the stop before that that I felt like was the last little bit that we needed to make our car as good as it was going to be today, but yeah, it just worked out. Was able to put ourselves in third, and once they came down pit road, that gave us the lead, and what else can you ask for?
Q. With the strides that your team and you have made this season and now with the pass into the Round of Eight, what do you think is possible for this season?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Anything is possible, man. There’s no reason at all we can’t make a run at this deal. I thought we made a great run at it last year. Personally, I felt like we went way further than anybody expected us to, a couple laps away from going to Homestead. No reason why we can’t do that this year and give those guys a run.
THE MODERATOR: We’ve also been joined by team owner Rick Hendrick, so he’s also available here for questions, as well.
Q. Chase, talking with Alan this weekend, he said that he’s really worked to make sure that you and the 9 team aren’t consumed by pressure, that you guys don’t focus on the negative energy, it’s all positive. How much does that help your mindset in the playoffs?
CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, I feel like Alan’s approach is great. He lets me do my thing, and I let him do his thing. He doesn’t question me, I don’t question him, and to me it’s really simple, and it works great. I’ve always appreciated that approach. He reminds me a lot of my dad in that sense because Dad has always kind of let me do my thing and has never really questioned it along the way, and that’s all I can ask for from a guy who’s leading the team or in his position.
I’m just appreciative of the opportunity to work with him. I think he’s as good as it gets really at the end of the day. I think he’s been underrated for a long time, and I just hope that we can give him the gratification and the wins and success that he deserves because he’s really good at what he does.
Q. Chase, having Denny Hamlin on the front row restarting with you there late, did that add any extra motivation, or do you think any differently when Hamlin is beside you in that circumstance?
CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, at this point, no. I feel like we’ve raced with each other a lot since last fall. But I haven’t really had an issue with him since then. No, I can’t say that I singled him out there.
Q. For Rick, what have you seen in Chase here and at Watkins Glen that maybe you haven’t seen previously?
RICK HENDRICK: Yeah, I’ve seen what I saw today a lot with Chase. We just didn’t have the car for him early in the year. What I saw him do at Watkins Glen was, I mean, unbelievable against some of the best road racers. I mean, seeing him develop at some of those tracks have been unbelievable. But like he said, we were a lap away from him going to Homestead last year when he got spun.
I think we were behind this year. We’ve caught up a little bit, and he’s just got an awesome amount of talent. I think, again, to be able to show it on a road course, it was pretty unique.
Q. Chase, it’s been well‑chronicled the close calls and the struggles, and it’s one thing to have that if it’s at the local short track when there’s not as many people viewing. When there’s so many people there and so many people having to ask about it week after week after you’ve had it, how does that not break you? How does that make you stronger? How does that prevent you from repeating and falling into the same circle?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, honestly, it’s frustrating at the beginning of it, but you guys asked me so much, I got to the point where I really didn’t care, so I appreciate that, because that was kind of where I landed with it.
Yeah, just really don’t care what y’all ask me anymore, and that’s a great way to be in my opinion. It may not be right or wrong, but that’s the way I’ve approached it, and it’s the way I’m going to continue to approach it.
Q. For Rick, obviously this year you guys have been looking for sponsorship for the 48. That’s been something you haven’t had to do for a very long time. How challenging, what has that process been like? I think there’s certainly a lot of questions but there’s nothing been announced at this point in regards to where that car will be sponsorship‑wise.
RICK HENDRICK: Yeah, you know, when you have as many ‑‑ sponsorships in general have been tough for everyone, and for Jimmie, we haven’t had any sponsor other than Lowe’s. We’ve had some opportunities, but there was a conflict with some of the other sponsors we had. But we’re pretty excited. We’re going to have an announcement probably in the next 30 days or so, and I feel real good about it.
But it’s really hard when you have someone that has been so successful but they have been tied to one brand for a long time. We’re excited about the next chapter there.
Q. This is actually the 20th win at Dover for Hendrick Motorsports, and the vast majority of those wins came from Jimmie and that guy up there. Do you feel like Chase has that same potential to eventually get to that level?
RICK HENDRICK: Absolutely. When you, again, when you see Chase, he’s run so well. He runs good on superspeedways, he’s good on the mile‑and‑a‑half. He’s good everywhere, short tracks. I think Jeff will say the same thing. He’s cool. He’s calm. He doesn’t get rattled. He knows when to race. I’ve been so impressed with him in the last couple of years, and we just could not put it together. I mean, we’d lose it on pit road. We’d stay out and everybody pitted. It was almost like he was snakebit.
And I know why he feels like he did, because he was there so much, and it was like, he can’t close the deal, and it wasn’t really his fault.
Q. Jeff, does this win remind you of anything from your career like as you were a younger driver, maybe something that you kind of lucked into or kind of had the circumstances play out?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I was in Victory Lane there and Alan was talking about how we stayed out one time maybe in one race here, so I didn’t remember that. But you know, I think kind of going off of what Rick was saying with Chase, I mean, you think about how many second‑place finishes he’s had, how close he’s been, and I think to Watkins Glen, just getting that monkey off his back, just being able to get into Victory Lane, recognizing that all the ingredients that it takes to finally pull it off is such a huge relief as a driver.
And now to be able to follow up that Watkins Glen win with a win here in the closing laps on a restart against a guy that had a little bit fresher tires, a guy you have some history with, I think this only elevates up his game and the whole team’s game of being capable of now going and closing the deal. It’s tough when you’ve been so close and it doesn’t quite work out, but all it takes is a couple of big events like this where you do close it to build that momentum and confidence to continue to go do that. Timing couldn’t be better for Alan and Chase and this entire team.
Q. Jeff, I know what Rick would probably say about this, but Alan was in here talking about the two young guys, Chase and Alex, making it possibly to the next round. What are your thoughts on that, to see the two young guys at Hendrick Motorsports moving on and kind of you were the young guy once and Jimmie was, kind of following in those footsteps like that?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I think going back, that was really unfortunate the way that race ended last week, that knocked Jimmie out. He did and that team did everything that they needed to do to get themselves to the next round, and then it just didn’t work out with the way that thing unfolded.
You know, I think ‑‑ and I told Rick this a short time ago; the momentum of the Roval and how exciting that was, I mean, I saw people at that race, including myself, that were seeing things that we haven’t seen in a long time, and it just reminded me like the Brickyard 400 and just events that were inaugural events. It just brought a lot of buzz and excitement to the sport.
You follow that up with a Chase Elliott win here in Dover, and yes, we’re biased, but I think we all know what that means for momentum in the sport and positive things.
Young guys are very, very important, but so are the veterans. What you want is those to go head to head, and you want a changing of the guard, but you want to see the veterans do what they’re capable of doing, and then you want to see a young guy come along that challenges that. So, it makes for great headlines and stories, and I think we’re fortunate to have both at Hendrick Motorsports, a guy that’s a legend and still a little more work to do, and one that’s got a lot ahead of him in the future, several guys actually, you look at William and Alex.
Q. This is actually a question for both Rick and you, Jeff. What type of advice have you guys given Chase over the last couple of years, and how have you seen him kind of develop and mature over the last couple years, particularly with the performance on the racetrack?
RICK HENDRICK: Well, I think you could sense it up here, he was ‑‑ there was so much pressure on him to close the deal, and I would reassure him, man, that wasn’t your fault that the pit crew fumbled the ball. Several races like that it wasn’t his fault. And so, you keep trying to reassure him, but you could to a certain point, but when he won that race at Watkins Glen, it was like the world was lifted off of his shoulders. I saw a different ‑‑ he was loose, he was having fun, and I think Jeff can tell you, until ‑‑ you can coach him, you can talk to him, you can do whatever you want to do, but until they get that win and that kind of eases up, that’s ‑‑ we’ve talked to Chase a lot, but Chase is a smart, super smart race car driver. From my standpoint, I think ‑‑ and Jeff talked to him, too. It’s just, hey, man, don’t let the pressure get to you. You’re Bill Elliott’s son, you’re supposed to win, you’ve been so close, you’ve been an Xfinity champion. But he’s handled it well.
I think I’ll let Jeff answer the rest of it, but he’s shown me some poise and how to race, when to race, take care of the car, feedback on how to ‑‑ what the car needs. I mean, he’s still a young guy. He doesn’t have a ton of laps.
JEFF GORDON: Yeah, I like to hear when I was sitting over there, hearing Chase about embracing Alan Gustafson. I think Alan Gustafson is very underrated, and I think Kyle Busch, if he were to be honest and tell you, he’d say the same thing. Mark Martin would tell you that; I would tell you that, guys that have worked would him. I think by him embracing what Alan and this team is capable of giving him and now to have some momentum and confidence, you know, I don’t think there’s anything that we can tell him other than to just continue to support that.
The team loves him, and they believed in him, and now things are starting to click. It’s great momentum, and that’s all you need as a confidence booster, as a driver, is just to start getting the W’s and getting the things you worked so hard for to start going your way, and I’m a big believer that that doesn’t happen on sheer luck, it happens through hard work and commitment, dedication. I think this team is very committed and dedicated, and they’ll show that over the next several weeks.
Q. Rick, with having Jeff there with the organization, and I don’t even know if the exact title is part‑time advisor or something like that ‑‑
JEFF GORDON: Did you have to bring up the word part‑time ‑‑
RICK HENDRICK: I really appreciate you saying that, part‑time, quarter‑time maybe.
Q. How important is it ‑‑ is it something you want Jeff to be more involved with and in what ways, and Jeff, is that something that you feel like you could put in your schedule or that’s just not ‑‑
JEFF GORDON: I love my schedule. Go ahead, Boss. Sorry.
RICK HENDRICK: You know, to be successful, you have to show up. Show up on time and show up on time with a game face on. He promised me when he got out of the car, he would be there. He’s done a great job. I love to give him a hard time. I’d love to see him there more, but he’s got his obligations with TV. But when he walks in the room and he goes into the debriefs, he demands ‑‑ there’s so much respect for him because of who he is and what he’s accomplished. All the folks there look up to him.
He’s done ‑‑ I love to give him a hard time. I would like to have him more because I want ‑‑ I don’t want to say I want to retire. I’d better not say that. But I would like to see him there more because he’s got a lot to offer. So, Jeff, how much are you going to ‑‑
JEFF GORDON: Later I will thank you for bringing that question up. Couldn’t have been better worded. He just told me my nickname was part‑time the other day.
Q. Jeff, going back to the relationship between Chase and Alan, Alan and you were in a pretty high‑pressure situation in 2015 going for the championship in your final year and all that. How much do you think ‑‑ and Alan said that that is the most high‑pressure situation he’s ever been in, probably will be in, with you. So how much do you think that scenario has helped him with Chase and the expectations of him to win and all that combined?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I don’t know if I agree with Alan on that. I think he had high‑pressure situations when Kyle Busch was his driver; he had high pressure situations when Mark Martin and he came close to winning a championship.
I think it definitely heightens the pressure because of the playoff system that’s in place now, and to go into Homestead in ’15 and battle for that ‑‑ I think ’14 was our better shot at it, and unfortunately, we didn’t go to Homestead that year.
And I’m honest when I say this: Alan got myself and he got Mark later in our careers. He has Chase Elliott in the prime, I think, or maybe even just getting into the prime of his career. I joked with Alan but I meant this in all sincerity, is that today what I think made Alan Gustafson grow to the next level is that he put his driver in a situation where others came in to get tires, he stayed out, and they had two restarts and he got it done. He had a driver that got it done.
And if I had a flaw late in my career, it was that I didn’t get it done for them in those situations as often as I would have liked to have. So, what that does is that now tells a crew chief when I’m in this situation I can take more risks because I have a young guy that’s going to put it on the line, that’s going to push the limit and do what he has to do to get those wins.
You know these days crew chiefs have to be able to make those gutsy calls because track position is so, so important. That’s what made me really happy for both of them, for Chase and for Alan today.
ALAN GUSTAFSON, Crew Chief, No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 – Race Winner
THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by the race‑winning crew chief, Alan Gustafson, for the Chase Elliott No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Alan, first of all, congratulations on the win today. Just talk a little bit about Chase’s drive there the last few laps, that last call to stay out, but then also just kind of what this win means at this point in the season.
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s obviously really sweet any time you can win one of these races. It’s a great honor, and it’s what you strive to do. Really fond of Dover. It’s a great racetrack, and we’ve had a great record here. It was nice to close the deal.
We had a really good car. I don’t think our car ‑‑ we had a chance to show it as much as we should have been able to kind of mired back there after the pit stop penalty. But I knew we had a good car, and just thought we’d give him an opportunity, and I wasn’t sure about the guys ‑‑ I can’t remember if we were ‑‑ I think we were third at the time the caution came out, but I wasn’t sure what the guys were going to do either way, but I just wanted to give him a chance there, and if we could have got a little bit of protection behind us with some guys that stayed out, I thought we’d be in good shape, and our car was good in clean air.
Then we got an opportunity to do it a couple times. It’s the risk here at Dover certainly at the end of the race with the corner exits. It’s pretty easy to crash like Aric did there on the back, and fortunately we were in front of that, so we’ll take it.
Q. Were you concerned with those late caution flags? Did you question that call to stay out late and not come down pit road when some of the other cars behind you especially after that wreck started moving up closer with fresher tires?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: No, not really. You always run a lot of scenarios through your head, and there’s a lot of what‑ifs, and I certainly think you can second‑guess about anything, but I think that was our best opportunity to win the race, and it was our best opportunity to score the most points we could score.
Even if Denny would have passed us, which was certainly a possibility, it was still going to be ‑‑ yield us more points than I think it would have had we pitted and been potentially in that accident.
Q. Alan, after getting now your second win this season and locked in to the Round of Eight, how do you feel your team is set up for the rest of the championship race? It would seem to be you’re in a pretty good position considering how you guys have performed on some of the late‑season tracks.
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I think we’re in pretty good shape. You know, that Round of Eight is obviously going to be really tough, and I think most likely to transfer out of that round we’re going to have to win one of those three races, so I certainly think those are tracks that we can win at.
Now we’ve got a little bit of time to gear up for that, so I think we’re positioned well. But as you saw today, anything can happen at any point in time. The points are so close, and the speed of the cars are so close, it’s just a really volatile situation.
I think we’re in as good a position ‑‑ I don’t want to say as anybody. Probably the 4 and the 18 with all the stage points they have, probably in slightly better shape than us, but I think we’re in pretty good shape.
Q. Alan, describe how Chase handled that final restart where Denny had fresh tires on his outside and it seemed like there was debate all day over whether the inside or the outside line was best on restarts.
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, he just asked myself and Eddie, and I think we both felt like the top was better, and he didn’t get a chance to restart at all in either lane. We’d had an opportunity to watch. But I think the key is you’ve just got to get rolling and then I think if you can either clear them before Turn 1 or be really close to it, you can take away their line on exit and clear them. He did that. He did a great job of it and executed it perfectly. Could have went really bad if he spins the tires or doesn’t get going. I think he did a little better job the first time. There wasn’t ‑‑ I think the guys behind him maybe didn’t have as good a tires, I don’t remember, and the 20 gave us a shot, but it was a pretty square shove, so that was good, and just got us out there.
Q. Can you describe how Chase has matured as a driver from this place a year ago? Obviously, things got away last year in this race, and today he was able to execute.
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I think it’s just ‑‑ you just have to go through those situations, and last year we had a shot to win, and unfortunately didn’t win. You know, you can second‑guess a lot of things, and you can always say, hey, man, I’d do this different or that different, but all in all, I think we all learned from that experience, and certainly I think he learned from that experience, and that enabled him to race a little bit better today. I think he did a better job passing today and really what got us last year is just the lap cars and not working lap traffic as good as we needed to, and I think he did a good job with that today.
So, there’s all those little lessons. It takes putting it all together to win these races, and he certainly did that today, and I don’t know that there was anything last year with the restarts; it was pretty much a green flag run. But I think he’s constantly maturing, and you’ve got to go through those situations. Anybody ‑‑ he’s way above the curve, but anybody, when you’re in those situations you’ve got to go through. I think to be honest with you, the 10 went through it a little bit today because they were in position to win it and didn’t win it.
Q. This year 14th year as a crew chief in the Cup Series; do you feel like this is your best chance to win a championship?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: I don’t know, maybe. Whatever year, ’09 with Mark, I thought we were really, really good there, and I think we won at least one race in the Chase, one or two, and that was a really good opportunity, ended up second. And then ’14, I think ’14 is probably the strongest cars we’ve ever had, and that was a big heartbreaker not making it to Homestead. Certainly, we should have ‑‑ there was two races we really should have won, two seconds, and whatever the crash was at Texas.
I don’t know, we’ll see. I think we’re still getting better. I think Chase is getting better, and I think we’re getting better as a team. Our NAPA Chevys are getting better, so you never know. It’s about taking advantage of your opportunities, and we’ve been able to create some lately, so we’ll just keep grinding and see where the chips fall.
Q. Alan, do you as a crew chief now feel a tremendous weight lifted off your shoulders knowing that now you don’t have to worry about Talladega and Kansas for this round?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Not really. You know, I’m sure when we’re at Talladega and the race is going on, I’ll feel a lot better. Same thing at Kansas because the chaos is sure to ensue there, also. But we’re going to have to be right in the middle of it, too. We can’t just write those races off. We’ve got to use that as an opportunity to go try to gain some more stage points and bonus points to put us in a better position for the Round of Eight.
I’m looking forward to Talladega. We always have super-fast superspeedway cars, and as you mentioned, I’ve been doing this for 14 years and not won one of those races, which is something that bothers me. I’d love to win at Talladega.
Q. Alan, you’re talking about the things that Chase has learned from through the last year and the past years and the disappointments. How do you work with him to learn from those experiences? It’s one thing to go through those, but how do you help somebody not repeat the same mistakes, not get caught in a similar situation, and not repeat the same thing over and over so where you’re not winning those races when you’re back in those opportunities?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, that’s a good question. I think that the only thing you can do is just really look at the situation without bias. I think it’s kind of human nature to make excuses or say, oh, this, that or the other circumstances. But not only him ‑‑ he gets the magnifying glass put on him a lot, which I don’t know if it’s fair or not, but everybody goes through that. The team goes through that. I go through that. Everybody goes through those situations, and we’ve got some things to learn from today from our pit road miscue and some different things we did.
All we try to do is look at it with really clear vision, without bias, and just be accountable for our actions and say, hey, this is the reality of what happened, this is why it happened, and this is potentially what we could have done to improve. I think where that benefits you is when you get back in that situation, then you’ve got a little bit in your playbook to say, yeah, when I did this last time, this was a problem, or I didn’t do this, this was a problem. You’re just quicker and more apt to do it and you’re quicker and more apt to adjust, and you’re quicker and more apt to not be complacent.
It’s kind of like life in general. You just kind of keep working at it, and certainly we support him and think the world of him and think he’s as good as anybody out there, and I feel like he does for us, too.
If you have that mindset going in, you just focus on what you can do to improve and move on.
Q. You just mentioned how much you want to win at Talladega; with kind of the opposite question of Tim’s a while ago, with this cushion, do you go out there and take every chance you can for you guys to get that victory?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Well, there’s a couple things on my mind right now. One, I want to win that race, but certainly the other one is I want Alex to transfer. My desire to win that race is probably second to that. So, we’ll do what we can to help Alex, and he’s going to have a really good car, and we’ll have a really good car, and if we can do anything we can ‑‑ those races, obviously we’ve all seen them. You’re going to need someone to help you. If we can do that, you know, put ourselves in position, we’ll see how it goes. But yeah, there’s no taking ‑‑ we’ve pulled the pin. Like there’s no getting off the gas now. It’s wound up and going. It’s running. We won’t slow down.
Q. When we talked earlier this weekend, you talked about the 9 team, Chase Elliott, all you guys, not being consumed by pressure and keeping positive energy and being relaxed. How much does that help you when you go to make a call to stay out or any situation like that?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, you know, that’s exactly what we talked about, so kudos to you, you had a crystal ball, you saw it kind of transformed throughout the weekend. So yeah, that’s exactly what we talked about.
Not only at the end with the call but even the penalty and going to the back, that’s when guys kind of typically ‑‑ it’s easy to melt down and it’s easy to have damage, it’s easy to hurt your car, it’s easy to burn your tires off, it’s easy to get frustrated, and then it’s easy ‑‑ in the situation we were at the end for Chase to say, I don’t have as good a tires or I don’t have as good a ‑‑ there’s a lot of negatives you can look and say, hey, these are reasons we can’t, but certainly on the other hand there’s things that you can say we do have, right, we have track position, we control the restart. We’ve got a good car, we’ve got a good pit crew, we can bounce back from the issues. Yeah, exactly, we just try not to get consumed by the things that we can’t control that are done and over with and just focus on getting the best out of what we can and making it happen.
There was a point in that race that it certainly looked like if you were going to poll the people in the stands, we wouldn’t have been high up on the list to win it, but I think we clawed back from that and just stayed focused on the goal.
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