Alan Gustafson Fuel Only Decision Fuels Key YellaWood 500 Crew Chief Calls

Welcome to this week’s Monday Morning Pit Box! It’s a new Frontstretch column where we look at the race through the eyes of a NASCAR crew chief, going in-depth on crucial calls from Sunday’s (Oct. 2) YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway that altered the outcome of the race.

This week, we were at the biggest, baddest, fastest, most dangerous track on the circuit. Race five of the 10-race Cup Series playoffs did not disappoint, providing plenty of action in the form of a season-high 57 lead changes. It was a race full of pit strategy, manufacturer allegiances and tandem drafting, ending with a battle between best friends Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney.

In the end, Elliott prevailed, claiming his series-high fifth victory of 2022. It was a clean race where a playoff-high 33 cars finished, 27 of them on the lead lap. That meant calls on pit lane were crucial in order to maintain track position within a draft where three-abreast was more of a rarity than usual here, making it more difficult to move through the pack.

Let’s take a closer look at some calls that defined the race.

Lap 27: Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch opting for fuel only on pit lane

We start things off on lap 27, when the second caution of the race flew for Harrison Burton’s crash, collecting about a half-dozen cars in the day’s only major incident.

Much of the field came to pit lane under the yellow. While most drivers took at least two tires, championship contender Chase Elliott opted for fuel only under the direction of crew chief Alan Gustafson. Kyle Busch‘s crew chief, Ben Beshore, also chose not to change tires in favor of gaining additional track position.

The strategy to take fuel only paid dividends for Elliott and Busch; both led laps and finished stage one inside the top 10. Elliott took third, adding valuable points, while Busch wound up in seventh place. Most importantly, the duo set the stage for more fuel-only calls as the race went on; they proved you could do it without the type of tire failures that plagued long green-flag runs last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

Lap 100: Christopher Bell spins heading onto pit lane, takes a penalty and opts for 4 tires

Let’s flash forward to lap 100. There’s 20 to go in stage two and the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas begin slowing in order to pit under green. However, polesitter Christopher Bell lost control of his car and spun near the entry of pit road. This mistake all but assured he lost the draft, triggering an…