The most underappreciated element of Kyle Larson's dominance during the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship is that it's come in a season in which Hendrick Motorsports has not been up to its usual standard. In fact, entering Sunday's Xfinity 500, not a single one of his teammates was even in the top 10 in points.
That changed after William Byron and Chase Elliott ran first and second at Martinsville Speedway, dominating the final stage. But particularly where the latter is concerned, it still proves nothing when it comes to the direction his race team needs to take this offseason.
And for that reason, it's a really good thing Elliott didn't win.
Chase Elliott might have quietly saved his future by not winning at Martinsville
The best time to replace Alan Gustafson on the No. 9 pit box was after Elliott's winless, playoff-less 2023 season. The second-best time was after last year's third consecutive elimination before the Championship 4 for a driver who'd made it three straight seasons prior to that. The third-best time is one week from right now.
After Elliott won the spring race at Martinsville this year, you'd have thought Gustafson walked on water. The No. 9 team found victory lane again a few weeks later at Texas Motor Speedway, but ever since then, it's been an unmitigated disaster.
Elliott scored only two top 10 finishes in the next 18 races after his Texas win and has led only 52 laps since the race at Michigan International Speedway in June. All in all, 2026 has turned into one of the worst seasons of the series' Most Popular Driver's career.
And it's far from just one blip on the radar. Elliott hasn't won a pole on speed since 2022. His 1,398 laps led since the start of the 2023 season are barely greater than the 1,247 circuits he paced the field for during his 2020 championship campaign alone.
Far more successful crew chiefs have been replaced for far shorter periods of underachieving. Gustafson is the only voice Elliott has ever had atop his pit box throughout his 11-year Cup Series career, and the combination has grown stale and complacent.
It's time for a change. Full stop. No more excuses. No more protecting of a guy who owes his success to four different Hall of Fame-caliber drivers much more than they owe theirs to him.
We'll see if Hendrick finally has the courage to make the necessary adjustment this offseason to try to reinvigorate a driver who NASCAR needs to be competing for championships. There's no guarantee his performance will improve with someone else calling the shots, but there is a guarantee it won't if Gustafson stays at the helm.
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