[autotag]Chase Elliott[/autotag] entered Watkins Glen International with a mathematical shot of making the 2023 NASCAR playoffs on points; however, the likely path for Elliott was to win at his best race track. Unfortunately for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, his day went up in smoke after the No. 9 car ran out of fuel on the track, which caused the only caution of the day.
It was a disappointing race for Elliott, who had top-5 speed in Stage 1 before crew chief Alan Gustafason brought him down pit road early on Lap 17. Elliott finished the race in 32nd place and must win at Daytona International Speedway now. Following the event at Watkins Glen, Gustafson spoke to the media, via. NBC Sports, about the decisions leading to Elliott running out of gas.
“To win, you have to have very little margin,” Gustafson said. “That’s what winning is. You’re going to make sure you exploit everything to the highest percentile possible. So anytime you’re trying to push, you’re cutting margins. So that gets riskier and riskier.”
When asked if the No. 9 car running out of gas was a miscalculation or fuel line issue, the veteran crew chief refused to explain.
“That’s internal stuff. I’m not going to go over our internal struggles in the media,” Gustafson said. “I’m not going over internal stuff in the media, and I’m certainly not going to educate everybody else on the problem.”
At the end of the day, the damage is done. Elliott goes to Daytona in a must-win situation and has the possibility of a walk-off victory that would go down in NASCAR history.
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