Nineteen wins and one championship — this is what Chase Elliott and Alan Gustafson have achieved together since 2016. The journey has certainly not been easy — nothing in NASCAR is — but they have stuck together while avoiding strife.
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How have they achieved this?
"I think we're similar in a lot of ways — some days probably too similar — in just how we kind of look at things," Elliott told FanBuzz at the NASCAR Awards. "But I think that's just part of working with and getting to know somebody for a long period of time."
From the outside, the similarities are easy to see. Gustafson and Elliott are both fairly quiet individuals. They are in the spotlight more for their performance on the track and more for the organization they represent each week, Hendrick Motorsports.
They certainly aren't making noise on social media. Elliott's posts are mainly focused on racing. Gustafson has one post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that just thanks the fans for stopping by his account.
They aren't recording podcasts — even though Gustafson would like to at some point much later in his career — and they aren't focused on appearing in the upcoming season of the Netflix documentary series and giving the fans a behind-the-scenes look at their lives.
If it doesn't have to do with winning, they aren't particularly interested.
Thanks for stopping by! Head over to @TeamHendrick and @Hendrick9Team for all updates.
— Alan Gustafson (@AGustafson_9) May 4, 2024
"We both have very — I'd say bad habits isn't the right word — but similar personalities," Gustafson told FanBuzz during a sitdown at Hendrick Motorsports. "In an ideal world, we'd probably balance each other out a little bit better instead of both having similar perspectives.
"I love the sport, he loves the sport, but there's sides of it that... We're very much competitors, right? That is very raw, that is our focus. And the rest past that? Neither of us has a huge amount of interest in (it)."
Not that they are knocking the drivers, crew chiefs, and teams that put extra effort into social media or creating content. Gustafson loves the personality side of NASCAR and how it shines a spotlight on people that the fans don't regularly see. It's just that the current priority for him and Elliott is winning championships.
The interesting part about Elliott and Gustafson being so close now is that they didn't have a relationship before joining forces in 2016.
Elliott drove for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series and made select Cup starts for Hendrick Motorsports with a different crew chief. Gustafson was the full-time crew chief for Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 team.
"I hadn't spent a ton of time with him," Elliott said. "I did a test — Jeff was traveling or something — I did a test with the 24 team in like 2014 or 2015 or something, just kind of filling in for him.
"And that was the first time I actually had an opportunity to work with Alan."
These two have had to learn each other over the years and build the relationship from the ground up. Clearly, they were successful, but reaching this point took considerable effort.
This duo had to navigate the ups and downs of top-tier stock car racing while answering tough questions.
What is the best way to move on after a day when the team missed the setup? How do you cope with another driver wrecking you in the championship race? How do you avoid blaming each other or other members of the team after a downright dreadful weekend?
How do you reset and move forward?
They have been able to answer these questions by relying on previous experiences that Gustafson had as a young crew chief for Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin, and Gordon. They have learned from the setbacks and mistakes of the past.
"It's easy to be complaining or crabby and mad and stomping your feet and going through all those things," Gustafson said. "As I did that through my career — because those (losses), I would take it personally. Those would really stick out.
"Well, you could start to see the negative effect of that. You start to see other people adopt that. You start to see that as an opportunity for people to generate excuses. You see how one negative result that wasn't warranted is now becoming more than that."
The No. 9 team — previously the No. 24 team — saw how focusing on these losses could negatively impact preparation, so the approach changed. Interestingly enough, being "too similar" benefited this duo while going through this process.
Elliott has a reputation for being hard on himself after a bad race weekend, especially if he is the one who made a mistake on the track. Gustafson is the same way, so he knows how that particular mindset can be detrimental.
What Gustafson has learned throughout his career is that it's fine to be hard on yourself. What he has preached to Elliott is that they just need to immediately shift the focus to preventing this same outcome in the future. How can you learn from this bad day and reset?
The No. 9 team has shown the ability to learn from mistakes and capitalize on the knowledge gained by taking this approach. Fitting examples are the races that Gustafson picks as some of his favorites.
The veteran crew chief doesn't list wins where the No. 9 team was dominant. He highlights races where they struggled and overcame mistakes.
A pit strategy call at Dover in 2018 made the shortlist, as did overcoming a pit road penalty at Nashville in 2022. Even last season at Texas was a highlight considering the team's overall statistics at the intermediate track.
CHASE ELLIOTT WINS IN DOVER! Retweet to congratulate the No. 9 team.
Full results: https://t.co/6LWByjiE2G#Di9 | #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/OrhBVn8Uic
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 7, 2018
"When everybody contributes and overcomes, those are very satisfying and extremely gratifying," he said. "And our plan is to always go in and smash people, but yeah, those aren't really the ones that stick out."
This ability to reset is an area in which Gustafson has seen Elliott deliver exponential growth. The son of Bill Elliott entered the Cup Series with clear talent behind the wheel. He took over a winning car and showed that he could contend for spots in the playoffs and race wins.
What Elliott has done since entering the Cup Series is take major steps toward mastering the mental aspect of the sport. Gustafson has seen him face the behind-the-scenes challenges and better adapt to them with each passing year.
"I think that people don't ever give enough credit to or respect to or understanding is the ebbs and flows of life," he said. "You're trying to seek a goal where you're trying to win a race, and then you win a race. Well, now it's never-ending, right? And then you have a life to balance with this.
"Then you go through the different trials and tribulations. How do you handle that and how do you continue to perform and how do you continue to do the things that you want to do when you've not only had the success but all the admiration, financial compensation, etc., etc. that go along with it? How do you continue to improve?"
Elliott and Gustafson have already achieved so much together. They've won a title and nearly two dozen Cup races. As the seven-time Most Popular Driver explained, they've streamlined a lot of their preparation so they can hit the ground running each week of the season.
That doesn't mean there aren't ways to improve.
They will continue to examine ways to better approach each race weekend and the different tracks on the Cup Series schedule. They will continue building their relationship while focusing on the mental aspect of NASCAR.
Just don't expect either of them to post about it on social media.
