Dale Earnhardt Jr. backs Alan Gustafson in Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain dustup

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is taking a side regarding Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain. In the drama that stems from this past weekend at COTA in Austin, he’s siding with the Hendrick Motorsports star, and his crew chief in Alan Gustafson.

Elliott was dumped by Chastain on Lap 1 of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, and Gustafson came on the radio to let the former champion know the Trackhouse Racing star deserved some payback. It seemed Elliott was going to deliver, but Chastain moved out of the way to let the No. 9 by during the final laps of the race, avoiding confrontation.

Afterwards, Gustafson caught some flack for trying to persuade Elliott to wreck Chastain. Earnhardt Jr. had zero issue with it though, and he explained why on the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download.

“I liked what Alan said, because it meant that Chase didn’t have to say it,” Earnhardt Jr. proclaimed. “I’d rather the crew chief say it, because if the driver says it, then NASCAR can react if something actually goes down. Just like a driver can’t admit or preemptively say he’s going to wreck somebody, or spin himself out on purpose. We’ve seen that in the past. You can’t admit to ever spinning yourself out to draw a yellow, or stop on the track on purpose to bring out a yellow. You can’t admit guilt in that scenario.

“Chase is the kind of guy that if Alan doesn’t say anything, if Chase catches him, he’s going to race the shit out of him, but pass him. In Chase’s mind, he’s like, ‘I’ll show his ass. I’ll pass him.’ Either Chase might think, ‘I showed him that you don’t have to rough people up,’ or, ‘I showed him how to pass somebody, because he doesn’t know how to pass people.’ Chase might think, ‘The way to get this guy back is to pass him, and beat him in the race.’

“Alan’s kind of like, ‘Look, I know Chase’s thought-process here. I need another level. So Chase, not today buddy. This is what I need from you,’ and Chase is like, ‘Alright.’ So, that’s kind of what I think Alan was doing at that moment. He was like, ‘I know what you’re probably thinking Chase, I need you to step it up a little bit. Be a little more pissed off.’ Chase won’t do dirty.”

Perhaps it all worked out for the best, as Chase Elliott ended up P4 when the race was all said and done, and he never had to dirty his hands. Still, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the rest of the NASCAR world expected to see Ross Chastain get spun for wrecking a fellow Chevrolet, and they were understandably a bit miffed it never came to fruition.