Rick Hendrick and his team made all the right calls in earning first NASCAR victory of the season

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Alan Gustafson ignored the phone call while packing a suitcase for the Sunday morning drive to Martinsville Speedway. Then he saw whom he’d missed — NASCAR Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick.

“I better get on it,” Gustafson said with a chuckle. “As soon as I got in the car, I called him right back.”

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The founder of Hendrick Motorsports had a message that he wanted the crew chief for Chase Elliott to deliver to his team, and it set the tone for their first victory of the season.

“He just basically was super positive,” Gustafson said. “The quote from him was: ‘This is a marathon, not a 10K race. We’re in it for the long run. Regardless of the way it starts, it’s about the way it finishes.’”

That certainly was the case at Martinsville, where Elliott started 10th and was hardly a factor as Denny Hamlin led the first 292 of 317 laps from the pole.

But Gustafson made the critical call for an early pit stop that vaulted the No. 9 Chevrolet to the front, and Elliott led the final 69 laps for his 22nd career win despite having the sixth-fastest car, according to Racing Insights, a NASCAR analytics firm.

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His victory in the seventh race is the earliest in a season for the 2020 Cup champion, who now enters an off week with some peace of mind.

“That was one of the first things I thought about,” Elliott said of winning early. “Man, this is awesome. We’ve never done that. Going into the off week with the win is really cool. I know we still have a lot of room for improvement, don’t get me wrong, but a great way to cap off this first stretch. A lot of good momentum for the whole organization.”

After a rough start of four top-five finishes among its four cars through the first six races, it’s fitting that Hendrick Motorsports earned its first victory of 2026 at Martinsville Speedway.

The team has a record 31 wins at the short track, which typifies the performance and resilience of NASCAR’s winningest outfit and its redoubtable founder.

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/rick-hendrick-team-made-calls-183059612.html

Author : NATE RYAN

Publish date : 2026-03-30 18:30:00

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