Alan Gustafson
Personal information | |
---|---|
Birth name | Alan Arthur Gustafson |
Nationality | American |
Born | Ormond Beach, Florida, U.S. | August 5, 1975
Sport | |
Country | United States |
Sport | NASCAR Cup Series |
Team | 9. Hendrick Motorsports |
Alan Arthur Gustafson (born August 5, 1975) is an American
He was previously the crew chief of Hendrick's No. 24 car from
Racing career
Early career
Born on August 5, 1975, in
1997–2004: Engineer
In 1997, he left the team after becoming the crew chief of Andy Houston's Late Model Stock Car and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, which was owned by Addington Racing. Gustafson won several races in the Late Model Stock Car Series, while they only participated in a few Truck Series events.[1] One year later he became team engineer for Diamond Ridge Motorsports in the Busch Series (now NASCAR Xfinity Series). While at the team, he recorded several pole positions and wins. In 1999, he left the team to help his friend Foster in the Busch Series, which they only qualified for one race, which they finished 34th. Afterward, Gustafson was employed at Hendrick Motorsports to become the 5 car's shock specialist. While there, the team earned three top-five finishes and six top-tens. One year later, with Terry Labonte the driver, the team recorded one top-five and three top-tens, as Gustafson remained the shock specialist.
In 2002, he became the lead engineer for the 5 car. He remained the same for the next three years, which he collected one victory at Darlington Raceway, five top-fives and 19 top-tens.
2005–present: Crew chief
2005–2010: Hendrick No. 5 car
Before the 2005 season, he was announced as the crew chief for the 5 car, driven by Kyle Busch. In the same year, the team won the pole position for the second race of the season, as well as one victory and a 20th place points finish. During the 2006 and 2007 seasons, he recorded at least one win in each of the seasons, two Chase for the Sprint Cup appearances, with a best points finish of 5th in 2007. In 2009, Mark Martin became the driver for the team. In the season, they recorded five wins, and a second-place finish in points. Martin remained the driver in 2010.[1]
2011–2017: Hendrick No. 24 car
For the
In 2016, Gustafson began serving as Chase Elliott's crew chief.[3] They finished the 2016 and 2017 seasons without scoring a win in the #24 car.
2018–present: Hendrick No. 9 car
In 2018, Hendrick acquired the No. 9, a longtime Elliott family number, from Richard Petty Motorsports (who had switched their No. 9 car to the No. 44 starting in 2016), and Elliott and Gustafson moved over to the No. 9 car while rookie William Byron would drive the No. 24 car. Byron replaced Kasey Kahne as a driver on Hendrick's Cup Series team, and the team stopped using the No. 5, which was the number Kahne had driven. After numerous second place finishes in his first two full seasons in the Cup Series, Elliott finally won his first Cup Series race in the race at Watkins Glen. He and Gustafson would win two more races that year, three races in 2019, five races and the championship in 2020, two races in 2021 and five races in 2022.
In 2021, Gustafson was suspended for the race at Watkins Glen after the No. 9 car failed pre-race inspection due to an illegal rear window air deflector. Tom Gray, the engineer of the No. 9 car, would fill in for Gustafson as the interim crew chief in the race.[4]
In 2023, Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident in Colorado prior to the race at Las Vegas and was replaced for the next several races by JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry except for the race at COTA where IMSA driver Jordan Taylor made his NASCAR debut subbing for Elliott. After the race at Phoenix, each of the Hendrick cars would receive an L2 penalty (a four-race crew chief suspension and the loss of 100 driver and owner points) after NASCAR discovered illegally modified hood louvers on the cars during practice for the race.[5] Engineer Tom Gray would fill in again as the interim crew chief for the No. 9 car for four races.[6]
References
- ^ a b c "Crew chief profile — Alan Gustafson". Hendrick Motorsports. Retrieved 13 January 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Sporting News Wire Service (2010-11-23). "Hendrick swapping crew chiefs for three teams — Nov 23, 2010". Nascar.Com. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- Foxsports.com. January 29, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- ^ "Crew chiefs for Nos. 9, 20 ejected at Watkins Glen; Elliott, Bell to start from rear". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 8, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ "NASCAR gives Hendrick Motorsports, Kaulig Racing L2-level penalties". NASCAR. March 15, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ Christie, Toby (March 16, 2023). "Hendrick Motorsports Names Interim Crew Chiefs for Atlanta". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
External links
- Alan Gustafson crew chief statistics at Racing-Reference