NASCAR insiders sound off on controversial Chase Elliott, No. 9 team call at Dover

Chase Elliott had the car to beat in Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway. Starting from the pole, Elliott led a race-high 238 laps.

But in Stage 3, Elliott and his team made a strategy call that backfired. Elliott, one of six cars on the lead lap, came down pit road for two tires during the Lap 340 caution for rain. Elliott 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.

Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic didn’t like the call to begin with. He said on “The Teardown” podcast that since tire wear wasn’t a huge factor in the race, the decision to give up clean air was a puzzling one.

“The strategy call — I didn’t like to begin with,” Bianchi said. “I know [crew chief] Alan Gustafson is a pinata for Chase Elliott fans and anything he does, he’s going to get beat up on and that goes with the territory. But I didn’t like the call. It didn’t seem like tire wear today was a huge factor. Yeah, the tires gave way after a little bit, but we saw drivers on older tires be able to do things, and I didn’t like that call then. I like the idea of staying out, being aggressive and holding your line.

“You’ve got a fast car and the importance of clean air at Dover… it is so hard to pass. You have to really work somebody over. … Knowing how hard it is to pass — even when you have a faster car — to me, I’m keeping my car in clean air and we’re going to go from there. If we’re going to lose this race, somebody is going to come take it from us. We’re not gonna hand it to them. I feel like by pitting there, you’re handing the race to your competition, instead of saying, ‘Come beat me at my best.'”

Chase Elliott walks away with disappointing finish 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.

As disappointing as this was for Elliott and his team, Sunday was another step forward. Elliott finally spent a significant time out front and passed Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the points lead. So, yes, there was plenty of good to come out of Dover. But that strategy call will sting, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic said.

“It’s tough because this was the race last year where Denny defended against [Kyle] Larson and it was such a talk about aero blocking and all that stuff. … Clean air means a lot, and this is what you have to do here,” Gluck said. “So, to give up that chance — I’m sure the 9 team is going to be kicking themselves… I know the fans aren’t thrilled either.”