CONCORD, N.C. -- On Sundays, you see them perched atop their respective pit boxes, analyzing data and guiding their drivers mile by mile.
Sundays are the culmination of a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief's week -- it's what they work toward the other six days of the week.
And those other six days are filled with hours and hours of work. Take a typical Tuesday on the Hendrick Motorsports campus with No. 24 team crew chief Alan Gustafson, for instance.
He begins with the Tuesday morning manager's meeting, followed by a shop meeting, car meeting, pit crew meeting, engineering meeting, driver meeting, office work -- the list continues on and on.
And while doing all of that, he's also managing an entire race team.
"Everyone runs their teams differently," Gustafson said, "but micromanaging isn't fruitful or sustainable. I try to empower the guys. You have to accept the occasional mistake or failure that comes from letting people figure certain things out for themselves, but that's the best way to get performance and build a real team."
Business publication Inc. followed Gustafson around the Tuesday before the Nov. 19 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year. For an in-depth look at how the crew chief prepared for the final race of Chase Elliott's 2016 Rookie of the Year campaign, click here.