As Chase Elliott heads into his 9th full time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, the Georgia native will have three new faces on his team.
As announced earlier in the off-season, Trey Poole replaces long-time spotter, Eddie D’Hondt. Mark Ziegler moves up to lead engineer after joining the organization in 2023. Industry veteran, Nick Gardiner will serve as the interior specialist for NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver.
One familiar face who remains with the team is crew-chief, Alan Gustafson. Gustafson and Elliott have the longest consecutive working relationship in the Cup Series garage.
“We have such a solid working relationship. It just makes each week way easier and better when that is the case. He and I are very similar in a lot of ways and kind of look at things from a similar view. That helps our relationship at the track and ultimately, we have the same goals in mind. It’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that we were the longest pairing. I guess we are both getting old,” said Elliott.
After a subpar 2023 season, the goals for the Elliott haven’t changed.
“Winning would be great. Winning a championship would be great. We just want to have pace on a week-to-week basis and that is where my head has been for a long time. I want to show up and have a shot every week. I think we are very capable of doing that but you’ve got to be perfect. If you are not perfect, you have to be really close to it and just keep yourself in contention. That’s really where I am at with it. I want to have pace, be fast and be in the hunt more often.”
The 2024 season marks 40 years for Hendrick Motorsports, that gives Elliott’s crew chief, Gustafson a little extra motivation.
“I’m just excited about the opportunity that’s in front of us. The 40th anniversary this year, everything that that could be and the vision and the dreams I think we all have for that excites me and gives a little extra motivation. The new season, I think, it’s just an opportunity to simplify for me and just focus on racing, being successful and setting that initial benchmark or result and enjoying the process of improving on it.”
Elliott will donn a special paint paint scheme in this weekend’s Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum.
–Blake Smith, host of Let’s Talk Racing