Dale Earnhardt Jr. defends “bada**” Chase Elliott crew-chief despite the blunder at Watkins Glen: “He tried something unique”

Chase Elliott and the #9 crew at Hendrick Motorsports' outing last weekend at Watkins Glen International was a situation of do or die for the team, and it remains the same going into Daytona this weekend. Elliott, who has had a terrible season with the lowest of lows this year, saw himself inches away from making it into the playoffs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

However, it was not meant to be, as Michael McDowell blitzed the field to take a second career victory in the sport. Last weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen showed massive promise for the Dawsonville, Georgia native as well. Having won at the venue before, as well as road-course racing being one of his strengths, Chase Elliott was expected to beat the odds stacked against him.

However, things did not work out as he ran out of fuel and created the only caution of last weekend's race. While NASCAR fans threw Alan Gustafson, the #9 crew chief under the bus for such a costly mistake, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to think the exact opposite. The former driver elaborated on an episode of his popular podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, and said:

“Listening to the team’s comments after the race and Alan, the crew chief’s comments, he’s like, ‘Hey man, we can’t win the race doing what everybody else is doing.’ I think that’s great. He is a hell of a crew chief. He is a bada**.”

Earnhardt Jr. claimed to be on board with Gustafson's strategy of Chase Elliott pitting early, then catching a lucky caution during the race, allowing them to flip their strategy and jump the field later on. With Elliott not having enough pace to drive through the field, as did no one else, this strategy might have been the 2020 Cup Series champion's best bet.

Alan Gustafson comments on Chase Elliott running out of fuel at Watkins Glen

Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the #9 crew commented after last weekend's Go Bowling at The Glen and did not give much away on how and why Chase Elliott ran out of fuel during the race. The 48-year-old was a man of few words as reporters surrounded him after the event. He elaborated in a video posted by frontstretch.com, saying:

"Can't do the same thing and expect a different result than everybody else right? I'm not going to go over our internal struggles in the media and I'm certainly not going to educate anybody else on the problem."

Watch Chase Elliott try to secure a playoff position at Daytona International Speedway this Sunday.