With about a dozen laps to go at PIR, Letarte won the race with his decision to have Gordon come in for a full pit stop seconds after the caution flag waved instead of allowing him to drive through the pits and back out onto the track, which is what Gordon wanted to do. A few weeks ago Letarte told me about how he'd been gaining more confidence by the week and that he was making more definitive calls from atop the pit box. It's not easy for a 27-year-old crew chief to overrule a four-time series champion, but that's what Letarte did on Saturday night and he deserves just as much credit for Gordon's historical win as Gordon himself.
Steve Letarte has arrived as a top-flight crew chief.
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