With Chase Elliott’s playoff hopes hanging by a thread, crew chief Alan Gustafson and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team face their biggest test of the 2025 season at Martinsville Speedway. For them, the equation is simple: win or go home.
Entering today’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at ‘The Paperclip,’ Elliott sits eighth in the standings, a steep 62 points below the cut line. This race will define their Championship 4 fate, and the only path forward is a victory.
What Strategy Will Chase Elliott’s Crew Chief Roll Out This Time?
For Gustafson, that stark reality shapes every decision the team makes. Every pit call, tire change, and strategic risk is made with one singular objective: to win the race outright. So, how do the 2020 NASCAR Cup Champion and his team plan to secure the victory at the 0.526-mile short track?
Fortunately, this is not unfamiliar territory for Elliott and Gustafson. In 2020, under nearly identical circumstances, they conquered Martinsville to advance to the title round and won the Cup Series championship at Phoenix a week later. Now, five years later, they are hoping history can repeat itself.
When asked about alternative strategies ahead of the race weekend, Gustafson didn’t shy away from the possibility of rolling the dice.
“No, I think you’re going to have to, you know, I mean, if you don’t have a car to win on pace or you don’t have the track position, then certainly you’re going to have to try to do something different to give you an advantage,” said Gustafson. “So I think, yeah, I mean, that’s really what we try to do every week.”
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These comments suggest the No. 9 team could experiment with off-sequence pit stops, tire strategy, or track position gambles. As the laps wind down, these tools could turn a strong car into a winning one.
Another factor working in Elliott’s favor is his relationship with Martinsville, a track steeped in emotion and clutch performances for the driver. The tight, paperclip-shaped oval is where he proved his playoff mettle in 2020, winning dramatically to secure his first title. Since then, the Georgia native has struggled to recapture that same magic, missing much of the 2023 season due to injury and enduring an uneven 2025 campaign.
Now, he and Gustafson find themselves back in a familiar spot with their backs against the wall and everything on the line.