Livescore
Alan Gustafson is in his 20th season as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, and he’s about to mark another big, round milestone number this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.
Gustafson will call the shots in his 700th Cup Series start atop the pit box in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The 49-year-old Hendrick Motorsports veteran has 39 Cup Series wins to his credit, spread among two NASCAR Hall of Famers (Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin) and two drivers destined to join them there (Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott).
“It‘s been a huge part of my life, obviously, and yeah, something that has transpired over a long period of time,” Gustafson said. “It‘s been super memorable, gone through a lot of circumstances, different things — good, bad, it‘s been good.”
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Part of the good side of his resume has been his nine-year term as crew chief for Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Chevrolet team. All 19 of Elliott’s Cup wins have come with Gustafson’s guidance, and the two celebrated the Cup Series championship together in 2020.
Gustafson was tapped to work with Elliott when he went full-time as a Cup Series rookie in 2016. The 28-year-0ld driver tipped his cap to the influence that Gustafson has had on his career.
“I’m not sure there’s anybody that’s impacted it more, honestly,” Elliott said before Saturday’s practice session at Michigan. “Just has always believed in me and just has never wavered in that regard. Man, that goes a long way, especially with somebody who has seen as much as he’s seen and has lived this deal as long as he has, so I’m grateful for our relationship, I’m grateful for our friendship. We have a really good working relationship as it pertains to just week to week, knowing what we expect of each other. We’ve been doing it together for a long time, and I think that that goes a really long way.
“I’m proud to have him, and I wouldn’t trade this time that we’ve had together for anything because the amount of experience and the things I’ve learned from him is hard to put a price tag on that. Hope that we can keep trucking for years to come.”
Gustafson came up through the local and regional ranks, and he joined Hendrick Motorsports in the chassis shop before taking on roles as a shock specialist and eventually a lead engineer. His ascended to a crew chief job with Hendrick’s No. 5 team in 2005, the rookie season for both him and Busch.
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Gustafson has since worked with the Nos. 24 and 9 teams. He says now that he’d tell his rookie self to simply roll with the uncertainties that are bound to arise.
“Just to relax and focus on what you can control and don‘t really worry about the rest,” Gustafson said. “I think, just starting out, there‘s so much unknown, so you‘re super nervous about that, and you want to do everything perfectly, which is just impossible. So I think I would just tell myself to focus on what you can control and take it as it comes.”
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