9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 25 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 6th
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No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion and Georgia native Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, will be available to members of the media via video conference on Thursday, March 18, at 9:30 a.m. ET. Visit NASCARmedia.com for details.
FIRST FIVE: In the first five events of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Chase Elliott has garnered two top-five finishes – tied for the third-most among all drivers – and led a total of 73 laps. He holds the seventh-best average running position (11.1) and has spent 262 laps inside the top five and 576 laps running in the top 10.
PEACH STATE PERFORMANCE: Elliott has made nine total starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway across NASCAR’s top-three levels – five in the Cup Series, two in the Xfinity Series and two in the Camping World Truck Series – and only finished outside the top 10 twice. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE currently holds a 10th-place average finish at Atlanta in the Cup Series, the best among active drivers at the 1.5-mile venue.
1.5-MILE TRACK STATS: Elliott will make his 59th NASCAR Cup Series start on a 1.5-mile track this Sunday in the Peach State. In his previous 58 races, Elliott has led 764 laps. Last season, he scored his second career 1.5-mile track win at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 28. Along with two victories, Elliott has collected 18 top-five finishes – five of which are runner-up results – and 29 top-10s on 1.5-milers.
FIRE UP THE SI-REEN: On Sunday, Elliott could become just the second Georgia-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, joining his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who won five times at the track.
ENGINE, ENGINE NO. 9: This weekend, Elliott has the chance to become the third driver to win at AMS with the No. 9 car number. The five victories for the No. 9 have come with two drivers: Elliott’s father, Bill Elliott (three), and Kasey Kahne (two). Kahne collected the most recent Atlanta win for the No. 9 in June 2008.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND: In addition to Elliott hailing from Dawsonville, Georgia, which is just 83 miles north of AMS, No. 9 team partners NAPA AUTO PARTS, Hooters and Kelley Blue Book all have major presences in Atlanta. NAPA is Elliott’s primary sponsor this weekend, and Hooters will make its season debut in May at Darlington Raceway. Cox Automotive, the parent company of team partner Kelley Blue Book, will have its first appearance as the No. 9’s primary sponsor later this year at Richmond Raceway in September.
CHECK OUT THOSE HATS: During the month of March, the No. 9 team will wear special limited-edition NAPA hats at the track. The hats are part of NAPA AUTO PARTS’ March in-store promotion. Throughout the month when customers spend $25 in store, they will receive the No. 9 NAPA Racing/Chase Elliott hat while supplies last.
HITTIN’ THE DIRT: Last week, Elliott announced that he will participate in the Bristol Dirt Nationals this week prior to returning to compete at his home track in Georgia. Adrenaline Shoc, which is also a sponsor of the No. 9 team, will serve as the primary sponsor on his car.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the challenging Atlanta track: “Atlanta is definitely a tough place. The racetrack has a lot of wear to it – the surface is one of the oldest that we go to – so finding grip is a challenge. The track has a lot of character and is very line sensitive to where you can and can’t run to find that. You really have to hit your marks well in Atlanta to have success. I think the track conditions this weekend will be pretty similar to last year in a lot of ways. The No. 9 team and I have talked a lot about last year’s event. That’s how we are going about the set up for Sunday is from last year and taking things away from how we did, what we did good and what we can improve on.”
Elliott on returning to Atlanta: “It’s always nice to race in Atlanta. I’ve been racing here for a long time, raced a lot of legend cars and bandolero races here, so it’s a special place to me. Atlanta is just a fun track to come to. I think anywhere that you run three or four laps and the lap times have fallen off significantly like they are here all the time, I think that makes it fun. It makes it fun from a strategy standpoint.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on what the team has learned at intermediate tracks in 2021: “As we head to another 1.5-mile track, we learned some deficiencies we had at Homestead and are certainly going to improve on that. At Las Vegas our NAPA Chevy was really fast, but we just had some execution issues so we need to clean those up. I really like Atlanta, it has always been a fun track and super difficult to get a hold of. I think we can take some things from those first two intermediate tracks and some of our past experience at Atlanta and try to put our best foot forward on Sunday.”
Gustafson on racing at Atlanta: “We were at Atlanta in June last year and it was fairly sunny, it wasn’t a terribly hot day so I think that the hotter it is the less grip the track is going to have. I still think it will be a place that is difficult even though it is projected to be in the 60s when we are there. I think the truth is that it’s never the same no matter what you do. We could go race there a week later and it’s just never the same. You just have to piece together all the little experiences you have and ultimately try to hit on it.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
