Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Chase Elliott Dover finish, heat on Alan Gustafson

Chase Elliott was having the best run of his 2025 season in this past Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway until one strategy call changed everything. Elliott, one of six cars on the lead lap, came down pit road for two tires during the Lap 340 caution for rain.

He had pitted just seven laps earlier. Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team decided to stay out on older tires, and that strategy was the winning one. Elliott, meanwhile, finished a disappointing sixth after leading a race-high 238 laps. Despite the call backfiring on them, Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes the No. 9 team should come away encouraged by their overall performance, he said on the “Dale Jr. Download.”

“He was sitting in a position that had he stayed out, he might have been able to do what Denny did and win the race. I know that everybody’s gonna raise hell at [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] for bringing him to pit road, but I think that Chase has told us in the past that him and Alan are tied at the hip — they win together, they lose together, and they’ll probably leave this race not bothered by that decision late in the day and more happy with how that car performed,” Earnhardt said. “They had an issue on pit road with the jack and lost about five spots. Quickly gained all that track position back and were back in control of the race when it mattered late.

“We’ve seen a very consistent [team] finishing in the top 20 every week, get you that top-10 all year long. They’re not leaving bothered because they were the best car there. They haven’t been the best car anywhere. They’ve just been a fifth to 10th place car every week.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. encouraged by Chase Elliott’s performance at Dover

The team waffled on the call before Gustafson made the final decision to bring Elliott to pit road. Gustafson told The Athletic after the race that he regretted the call to pit in general. Still, Sunday was another step forward for the No. 9 team. Elliott finally spent a significant time out front and passed Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the points lead.

Chase Elliott dominating races has seldom been seen in the Next Gen era. But it came together at Dover and for that reason, Earnhardt sees an opportunity for the No. 9 team to carry the momentum forward into this Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Does Alan wish he would have chosen differently? Absolutely. Has Alan said to Chase, ‘Hey, I wish I would have chosen differently?’ Probably, yeah. Are they gonna leave there pi--ed off? No,” Earnhardt said. “Alan, internally, is going to handle this however he does — he’s probably pi--ed off at himself. But this is how racing goes sometimes. You don’t always make the best choice. … I was pretty surprised that they chose to pit, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure how much tires mattered. … It wasn’t the right choice in hindsight — it’s easy to say that.

“… For him to go out there, take the lead and be the best car — I think they got to leave there thinking let’s not get too caught up with this choice to pit and how that might have altered our opportunity to win. Let’s not get derailed, let’s think about how awesome we ran all day long and carry that forward into Indy.