Chase Elliott
No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Driver Chase Elliott Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 24 Resides Dawsonville, Georgia
2020 Season
6th in standings
34 starts
3 wins
1 pole position
13 top-five finishes
20 top-10 finishes
858 laps led
Career
183 starts
9 wins
9 pole positions
57 top-five finishes
94 top-10 finishes
2,702 laps led
Track Career
10 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
3 top-five finishes
5 top-10 finishes
193 laps led
FINAL TWO: This Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway marks the final race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR playoffs. Chase Elliott currently sits sixth in the playoff standings, 25 points below the cutline. He leads playoff drivers with the most points earned (307) and stage points (93) in the eight playoff races. He has also run the most laps in the top five (1,374) and in the top 10 (2,006) of all drivers. In the eight playoff races, the driver of the No. 9 has led laps in seven of those races and holds the second-most laps led (328).
NAPA AUTO PARTS: Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE will don the blue, white and yellow NAPA AUTO PARTS paint scheme on Sunday at Martinsville. The Atlanta-based company is serving as majority sponsor for Elliott and the No. 9 team for a total of 26 NASCAR Cup Series races this season. In February, it was announced that NAPA AUTO PARTS and Hendrick Motorsports will continue their partnership for another two seasons through 2022. Click here to read the full release.
2020 SEASON: With only two races remaining in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, Elliott has picked up career bests in laps led (858), top-five finishes (13) and stage wins (nine). His three wins are tied for his most and his 20 top-10s are Elliott’s second-most at the 34-race mark.
ELLIOTT AT THE PAPERCLIP: Chase Elliott is set to make his 11th NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. The driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE made his Cup debut at the track for Hendrick Motorsports on March 29, 2015, and has since led a total of 193 laps there. He has finished inside the top 10 in four of his last five visits to the track.
SHORT-TRACK STATS: On Sunday, Elliott will make his 31st short-track start in the Cup Series. In those races, he has garnered seven top-five finishes, 14 top-10s and led a total of 539 laps. Elliott currently has three consecutive top-10 finishes. Since the start of 2018, Elliott has collected 10 top-10s at short tracks, tied with Joey Logano for the fifth-most during that span.
GUSTAFSON’S MARTINSVILLE HISTORY: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 32nd Martinsville Speedway race from atop the pit box on Sunday. In his previous 31 Cup Series starts at the track, he has two wins, 13 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s. Both wins at the 0.526-mile oval came with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon (2013 and 2015). The 2015 victory secured Gordon’s position in the Championship 4 for the season finale.
CUT TO IT: Elliott recently joined former NFL player Steve Smith on his podcast “Cut To It” to talk about his racing career, growing up in Dawsonville, Georgia, and much more. Click here to listen to the episode.
NOVEMBER WON: Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway will fall on a date that has been successful for Hendrick Motorsports. The team has won two of the last three Cup races held on Nov. 1, both courtesy of Jeff Gordon: Rockingham in 1998 and Martinsville in 2015. Gordon’s 2015 result was the last of his 93 career Cup Series wins and his ninth at the Virginia short track.
MARTINSVILLE SUCCESS: Hendrick Motorsports has won 24 races at Martinsville Speedway, the most victories for any team at any track in NASCAR Cup Series history. Junior Johnson and Associates is second on the list with 21 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports is next with 20 first-places results at both Dover International Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval.
GOOD OMEN: In the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race held at Martinsville Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports placed each of its cars inside the top 10. In June, Chase Elliott finished fifth, Alex Bowman sixth, William Byron eighth and Jimmie Johnson 10th. Hendrick Motorsports is the only team in 2020 to put four cars in the top 10 in a short-track event. It also marked the fifth time that the organization has earned four top-10 positions in a Martinsville Cup race.
THE FIVE: Hendrick Motorsports has sent five different drivers to victory lane at Martinsville. Gordon and Johnson each have nine wins at the legendary half-mile track, followed by Darrell Waltrip with four. Geoff Bodine and Dale Earnhardt Jr. each have one victory there for car owner Rick Hendrick, who grew up less than two hours away in Palmer Springs, Virginia.
THE BIG FIVE-OH: Hendrick Motorsports has 50 NASCAR Cup Series wins on short tracks, the most of all active teams. Joe Gibbs Racing is second with 41.
STREAKING: Hendrick Motorsports has notched as least one top-10 finish in 16 consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races. The last time the team reeled off more than 16 straight top-10s was from October 2014 to July 2015 when it posted 23 in a row. Hendrick Motorsports has also led laps in each of the last 12 races, which is the longest active streak of any organization.
PLAYOFF RECORD: Since the inception of the format in 2004, Hendrick Motorsports has 45 NASCAR Cup Series playoff wins – 15 more than any other team. Including 2020, the organization has scored at least one playoff win in a record 16 different seasons, missing only 2017. A series-topping seven different drivers have won a playoff race for Hendrick Motorsports.
THE STATS: Since its inception in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 261 race victories and holds the all-time records for championships (12), pole positions (226), top-five finishes (1,098), top-10s (1,895) and laps led (70,429) in points-paying NASCAR Cup Series competition. Including 2020, the organization has won at least one race in 35 consecutive seasons, the longest-ever streak. Hendrick Motorsports is seven wins away from tying Petty Enterprises’ all-time Cup record of 268.
Driver Chase Elliott on making the Championship 4:
“For us, we need to go win. That’s really the bottom line. I am not even going to look at points because, in my opinion, it really just doesn’t matter. If you can’t win races and win them consistently in the Series you aren’t going to win a championship, anyway. We need to go there with the mindset of trying to win. That is our mindset every weekend and put ourselves in the best position we can to do that and be comfortable in it and hope things go our way.”
Elliott on having been on the elimination bubble in the Round of 8 before:
“Both fortunately and unfortunately, we have been in this position a few times. I think at the same time it’s not something where you need to go hit a homerun, we just need to go win. I don’t think you have to hit homeruns to win races. We will treat it like a normal race weekend because that is what it is and we will give it our best shot to make it to the final four. If we just do our thing and improve on the last couple of Martinsville trips, take our notebook and try to improve upon it, I think we can contend for a race win. Still one race left in the round so it’s certainly not over. I’m looking forward to it.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
