9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 26 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 7th
No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media at the Talladega Superspeedway media center on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 8:45 a.m. local time.
JUST KEEP DIGGING: Heading into the second race of the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Talladega Superspeedway, Chase Elliott sits seventh in the standings. He is 11 points above the cutoff line to advance to the Round of 8. The regular-season champion has been in the playoffs every full-time season he’s raced in the Cup Series. The previous two seasons he advanced to the Championship 4, earning a Cup Series title in 2020. Elliott has six total victories in the playoffs, most recently in the 2020 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, when he captured the championship.
SUPER ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS: In five starts in 2022 on superspeedways and drafting tracks this season (those tracks are Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega), Elliott has one win and finished inside the top 10 in all but one of them. The 26-year-old is the only driver to finish inside the top 10 in four of the five events and earned the second-most points in those races (195). The 2020 Cup Series champion scored a victory on the newly reconfigured Atlanta in July, leading 96 laps. In addition to his win, he finished 10th in the DAYTONA 500, sixth in the Atlanta spring race and seventh at Talladega. In his last nine starts on traditional superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega), Elliott scored two second-place finishes (tied for the most), three top-five finishes and six top-10s (a series high).
‘DEGA NUMBERS: This weekend, Elliott will make his 14th Talladega Cup Series start. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native earned a victory on the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 2019 and has collected four top-five finishes and six top-10s across his 13 starts at the track. Elliott currently has the third-best average finish at the venue among active drivers at 15.23, trailing only Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
GUSTAFSON AT TALLADEGA: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson will call his 36th Talladega Cup Series race from atop the pit box on Sunday afternoon. He collected his first superspeedway victory at the Alabama facility on Apr. 28, 2019, with Elliott and the No. 9 team. In total, at this track calling the shots for five different drivers (Elliott, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon), Gustafson’s teams posted eight top-five finishes, 11 top-10s, 276 laps led and six pole awards.
TOP DOG: Gustafson’s superspeedway résumé is impressive with two Daytona Duel wins (2017 and 2018) and a 2019 win at Talladega, all coming with Elliott behind the wheel. His 11 superspeedway poles are the most among all active crew chiefs.
PIT ROAD POWER: Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, the No. 9 team had the best average time for four-tire pit stops at 10.499 seconds. The NAPA AUTO PARTS pit crew is comprised of jackman T.J. Semke, fueler John Gianninoto, tire carrier Jared Erspamer and tire changers Chad Avrit (rear) and Nick O’Dell (front). They currently hold the fourth-best average (11.814) for four-tire stops across the season.
NAPA IS BACK: NAPA AUTO PARTS, the Atlanta-based company that has been a primary partner of Elliott in all seven of his seasons at Hendrick Motorsports, will be on board the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 this weekend at Talladega. This will mark the 10th time the brand has served as the primary sponsor of the No. 9 team at this particular track. NAPA was on board earlier this year for the team’s seventh-place finish.
LEADING THE WAY: With nine wins through the 30 NASCAR Cup Series races in 2022, Hendrick Motorsports has earned the most victories so far this season. It is the only four-car team to see all of its drivers win a race this season. The organization is also the only one to have multiple drivers with at least two wins – Chase Elliott (four), Kyle Larson (two) and William Byron (two). On top of that, Elliott and Byron rank 1-2 in laps led this year.
ALL IN: For the second straight season and third time in nine seasons, all four drivers for the 14-time Cup Series championship organization are in the Round of 12 of the NASCAR playoffs. The quartet of Alex Bowman, Byron, Elliott and Larson also did this in 2021. In the first year of the elimination-style playoff – 2014 – the foursome of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne each advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
SUCCESS ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS: With 28 wins on superspeedways, Hendrick Motorsports has the most victories on that track type in Cup Series history. Thirteen of those victories have come at Talladega Superspeedway, while 15 have come at Daytona International Speedway.
VICTORY FORMATION: Gordon’s six wins at the Alabama venue top the board for the organization followed by Johnson’s two triumphs. Earnhardt Jr., Elliott, Terry Labonte, Ken Schrader and Brian Vickers each have one victory for the Rick Hendrick-owned team. The seven drivers to win at the 2.66-mile track are the most for one team.
SPRING SUMMARY: In the spring race at the sport’s biggest oval, Hendrick Motorsports led 70 of the 188 laps (37%). Byron paced the field for a race-high 38 circuits and won stage two, while Larson held the point position for 32 laps. Larson (4.77), Byron (4.87) and Elliott (7.84) had three of the four best average running positions in the race. The team spent 44% of their laps running in the top five and 72% percent of their laps in the top 10. At the end of the day, three of its drivers finished in the top 10 with Larson finishing fourth, Elliott placing seventh and Bowman taking ninth.
FACTOID FOUR YOU: In four races at Talladega in the team’s storied history, the organization has placed at least three drivers in the top 10. This year’s spring race was the most recent occurrence. The first came in April 1998 with Labonte placing fourth, Gordon in fifth and Randy LaJoie earning a 10th-place showing. In October 2007, Gordon and Johnson placed one-two while Casey Mears came in sixth. In April 2011, Johnson won, Gordon took third, Earnhardt Jr. came in fourth and Mark Martin placed eighth.
DRAFTING DARLINGS: In the season’s five drafting races with the 2022 superspeedway rules package – two at Daytona, one at Talladega and two at Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hendrick Motorsports has won twice. Byron and Elliott earned wins at Atlanta in March and July, respectively. In fact, Byron (192 laps led) and Elliott (156 laps led) rank first and second in laps led on drafting tracks this season.
RECORD SETTERS: Hendrick Motorsports has posted a series-best 53 wins in the playoffs – 20 more than the next closest organization. Johnson has the most wins with 29. Among the current driver lineup, Elliott tops the board with six wins, followed by Larson with five and Bowman has one. Nine different drivers have won a playoff race for the team, which is the most in the Cup Series ranks. Entering this year’s playoffs, the company has won a race in the postseason in 17 seasons and that mark is also the most among all Cup Series teams.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Talladega: “It’s obviously not an ideal situation to be where we’re at in the points heading into Talladega (Superspeedway), but it is what it is. I’ve said for years that no one is safe in these playoffs. We’ve been in similar situations in the past, so we know what we need to do these next two weeks to put ourselves in a good position to advance. I know we’re fully capable of getting the job done. We’ve proven it time and time again.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on Talladega: “We were able to learn a lot when we were at Talladega (Superspeedway) in the spring to really improve our superspeedway program. That was our goal going into the race, knowing we’d be coming back here in the playoffs. For us, it’s about getting maximum points this weekend, minimizing our mistakes and making sure we survive until the end. If we do that, we’ll have just as good a shot as anyone to get the win and lock ourselves into the next round.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
