Eleven races have gone by in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. One team that seems to top charts is not having a uniform year. For Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott is the only driver in that organization’s four-car stable to have won. Kyle Larson, the defending champion, is winless and 10th in the points standings. William Byron has been steady, but not really spectacular. Alex Bowman has had health issues all season long. Through these results, which can only be seen as a mix of highs and lows, there is a voice putting things into perspective, and it belongs to the man calling strategy from Chase Elliott’s pit box.
Gustafson Backs the New Chevy with Caveats
After winning at Texas Motor Speedway in Race 11, crew chief Alan Gustafson spoke to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about where the team stands with Chevrolet’s new body now 11 races into the season. His take was honest.
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“It’s been good, you know. It has had its challenges, but I think it’s really good,” Gustafson said. “We’re starting to understand how to extract the performance out of it and what’s hopefully going to work best.”
The strongest evidence of that understanding has come on mile-and-a-half tracks. The No. 9 team had a shot to win at Vegas, ran well at Kansas as well, and then took the checkered flag at Texas. Gustafson pointed to that stretch as proof that the new package is working.
“When you think body and you think aerodynamics, the place that comes to mind, really, to me, is the fast mile-and-a-half,” he said. “We’ve really been really good there.”
But he was also equally candid about what still needs fixing. It was particularly the subjectivity of the car setup that created problems on shorter tracks. At Bristol, Elliott got caught in two separate spins and finished 22nd.
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So Alan’s role in building this connection is highly Chase Elliott-focused. The car now prioritizes front tire grip, while other Hendrick drivers, like Larson, want a loose car that can slide easily through the turns to go fast for a few laps. Chase’s car is a bit stiffer and more stable in that regard.
This setup has been incorporated by using specific springs that keep the nose of the car flat against the ground, so Chase can feel exactly where the car is going. The specific goal with this is to extend tire life by keeping the car from sliding around. The tires stay cooler and therefore last longer.
According to the performance analytics so far, Chase might not be the fastest in qualifying, but when the final laps roll around, and everyone else’s tires are almost worn out, his slow-and-steady strategy is how he drives past fading competitors to secure a good-place finish. That’s also how he won at Martinsville and Texas this year.
Such optimistic moves matter given the bigger picture at HMS. Larson has speed, six stage wins already, but the wheel issue at Texas sent him to a 34th-place finish. That stretched his Cup win drought to 32 races. Byron is sixth in points with six top 10s, but has led just 34 laps all season. Bowman, despite bouts of vertigo, still managed a third-place finish at Texas. He also helped Elliott hold off Denny Hamlin in the closing laps that day.
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Hendrick Motorsports has had a mixed bag this season, but Gustafson’s belief in the direction of the Chevrolet program suggests that HMS has not yet hit its ceiling.
Eleven Seasons Together for Chase Elliott and Alan Gustafson
Chase Elliott has certainly had a resurgence, and this has been made possible due to an 11-year partnership with his crew chief. They’ve been together since 2016 and are the longest active driver-crew chief duo in NASCAR. The next closest pairing is Joey Logano and Paul Wolfe, who have been together for seven seasons.
Gustafson came to the No. 9 car with a strong track record. Before Elliott, he had worked with Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon at HMS. He picked up wins and near-championships with all three of them. When Gordon retired, Gustafson stayed with the car and took on the task of developing a 20-year-old Elliott from scratch.
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From the early start, it all looked promising. In 2016, their first full season together, they won the Daytona 500 pole. Elliott also took home Rookie of the Year honors. In 2020, they won the Cup Series championship.
What makes the pairing work is that Elliott has credited Gustafson with shifting his mindset. He’s gone from being self-critical to being data-driven, and this is also quite evident in their race communication. Gustafson also builds cars that are meant to sustain the competition. While Larson’s No. 5 might be faster in short bursts, the No. 9 gains pace as the track wears down and the lap count goes up.
Take Texas, for example. Elliott started 14th, led 87 laps, and pulled away from Hamlin right at the moment when it mattered. At Martinsville, Gustafson called for an early pit stop in the final stage to put Elliott out front, and it worked.
So now in 2026, Elliott has a career-best average finish of 8.9, up from 12.6 last season, and has led a total of 196 laps. He also has five top fives in 11 starts. With the new Chevrolet body still being dialed in, HMS is still looking for consistency across all four of its drivers. Gustafson and Elliott seem to be doing well in that department.
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The post Chase Elliott Insider Rallies HMS as Chevrolet Gains Traction Despite Lingering Setup Struggles appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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