Sunday's DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix at Austin's Circuit of the Americas was full of storylines, the biggest one being Tyler Reddick's history-making third consecutive win to open the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. In order to do so, he held off Shane van Gisbergen, who was vying for a record-tying sixth road course victory in a row.
Further back in the field, there was even more drama. Connor Zilisch went from the back to the front multiple times, and Michael McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson made yet another outside-the-box call to steal a top five finish on pit strategy.
Speaking of pit strategy, one driver quietly made a heads-up move in order to turn a disaster of an outing into a top 10 result.
The solution to Chase Elliott's crew chief problem is apparently for him to do the job himself
Remember when Chase Elliott was the Cup Series' road course king? That feels like so long ago now, as he hasn't won on such a track since the summer of 2021.
He and the No. 9 team have struggled to adapt to the Next Gen car, and they only keep falling further behind. On Sunday, he went from a top five starting spot to the middle of the pack with an extremely ill-handling car.
Expectedly, crew chief Alan Gustafson had no answers. The next time he does something bold or unconventional in an attempt to maximize his driver's result will be the first time. Thankfully, Elliott had an idea himself to capitalize on an opportunity created when Ross Chastain had a wheel come loose with 20 laps to go.
Extremely heads up move from @chaseelliott choosing to pit on his own when he saw a car in front of him lose a wheel.
— Bozi Tatarevic (@BoziTatarevic) March 2, 2026
Within seconds of seeing the wheel he made a calculation in his head that it would likely be an advantage to pit and decided to enter pit lane on his own. pic.twitter.com/Ivode4rCyU
Running 15th, Elliott was able to duck onto pit road before the inevitable caution came out, which allowed him to leapfrog everybody who pitted under the yellow and restart just outside the top 10. He then climbed as high as sixth on his fresh tires before finishing seventh.
Not that Elliott should be in much danger of missing the Chase regardless, given its oversized field, but it's results like these that determine whether or not you're able to compete for a title. The 2020 Cup Series champion is renowned for never beating himself, but you also need to be able to take bad days and actively find ways to turn them into good ones.
Apparently, if Elliott is going to do that, he's going to have to go rogue with his strategy calls.