Chase Elliott's Martinsville win proved one thing about Alan Gustafson

As the saying goes, even a broken Martinsville Speedway grandfather clock is right twice a day.

Fans of NASCAR's most popular driver, Chase Elliott, can certainly attest to that this week. On Sunday, the Hendrick Motorsports star earned his first win of 2026 in the Cook Out 400, thanks in large part to, get ready for it, a genius pit strategy call from much-maligned crew chief Alan Gustafson.

During the final round of green flag stops, Elliott pitted several dozen laps earlier than the rest of the field, allowing him to cycle into the lead on newer tires. He was passed by Denny Hamlin, but a caution came out shortly afterwards. Then, after everyone stopped again for fresh tires, the driver of the No. 9 machine took the lead for good on the ensuing series of restarts.

And based on the reaction from the media, you would think Gustafson invented the automobile.

Alan Gustafson finally did something right, and now everybody must stand up and clap for him

In case anyone wasn't going to give Gustafson his due, the Fox broadcast and several of NASCAR's other prominent media members could hardly even wait until the checkered flag fell on Sunday to make sure everybody knew who really won the race for Elliott.

Gustafson even got a full post-race segment, as seen above, in which Jamie McMurray and Chris Myers threw him a pity party over how unfair it is that the guy who's worked with four different Hall of Fame-caliber drivers has to take so much criticism.

Does any other crew chief ever get treated this way?

The answer is no. Just like how no other crew chief would manage to survive as long as Gustafson has with as much perpetual underachieving as he's overseen, while actively throwing away wins on a much more frequent basis than he's stolen them.

Gustafson is the longest-tenured active crew chief in the Cup Series garage, both in terms of his time with his current driver (11 seasons running) and by the length of his full career (22 years). The past three of those seasons have seen Elliott perform at a level that does not meet the standard at which he is talented enough to perform.

Usually, that's where a change in surroundings is made, and precisely why No. 9 fans have been demanding one for some time. Far more successful crew chiefs have been given much shorter leashes after their partnerships have become stale, and yet for some unknown reason, Gustafson has job security that would make Mike Tomlin jealous.

Any time he comes under fire, there's always an excuse from his professional apologists, and the narrative becomes that it's the fans' fault for never being happy. And on the rare occasion that he does the heavy lifting for his driver? "See? Told you so!"

It's gaslighting at its finest. One race does not change the fact that Elliott has not won a single pole on speed since 2022, a direct indictment of Gustafson's setup ability with the Next Gen car.

Elliott has led the most laps in an event one time during that span, and the race in question produced an all-time choke-job from atop the pit box, exposing the crew chief's struggles to find ways to put his driver in position to control a race.

In a car where track position is more paramount than ever, Gustafson's single biggest flaw is the fact that he seldom ever takes risks that create opportunities to maximize it. He broke that trend on Sunday, and for the sake of NASCAR's growth that hinges upon the success of stars like Elliott, one can hope he does so more often moving forward.

But no crew chief in perhaps the history of the Cup Series has ever been held to a lower standard. And the absolutely pathetic kiddie-wheel treatment he received on Sunday proves it.