9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 28 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 9th
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No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
RICHMOND RECORD: Chase Elliott will make his 16th Richmond Raceway start this Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. In his previous 15 races at the 0.75-mile oval, he collected five top-five finishes – one being a runner-up result (April of 2018) – and six top-10s. Additionally, he has made four Richmond starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, never finishing outside the top five and earning a win in 2015.
SHORT-TRACK PERFORMANCE: The Richmond race will be Elliott’s 47th short-track start in the Cup Series. Through those previous 46 races, he has garnered one win – Martinsville Speedway in November of 2020 – 14 top-five finishes, 24 top-10s, two pole awards and 1,579 laps led. The 28-year-old driver finished inside the top 10 in seven of his last nine short-track starts. Since the Next Gen’s debut in 2022, Elliott has the fourth-best average finish (9.60) and scored the fifth-most points (340) on short tracks. In one points-paying start this season on a track measuring less than 1 mile in length, he placed eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway.
2024 NUMBERS: Sunday will mark the premier series’ seventh race of the 2024 season. Across the first six races, Elliott has completed all but one of the 1,607 laps in competition – tied for second best. Additionally, he has the seventh-best average running position (13.34), the ninth-most laps inside the top 10 (656) and the 10th-most circuits in the top five (301). Elliott has led 18 laps this season, including the 80,000th in the Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. In 2024, Elliott and the No. 9 team have been consistently fast in qualifying, earning three consecutive top-10 starting positions and four out of six total for the year.
GREAT GUSTAFSON: On Sunday, No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 36th Richmond race in his 20th season in the Cup Series. In his previous 35 starts at the track with five different drivers (Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin, Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon and Elliott), Gustafson accumulated 15 top-five finishes – including five runner-up results – 19 top-10s and 625 laps led.
DYNAMIC DUO: Elliott and Gustafson are in their ninth season together and are currently the longest active driver and crew chief combo in the Cup Series garage. The duo is ranked second among active pairings with 18 points-paying victories. Gustafson and Elliott earned their first Cup Series title in 2020 and the team captured the regular-season championship in 2022.
FOUR TIRES FAST: Through six Cup Series races in 2024, the No. 9 pit crew ranks fourth in average four-tire pit stop time (11.058 seconds). On March 17 at Bristol, the five-person team knocked out the fourth-fastest four-tire stop of the season with a time of 9.479 seconds. The No. 9 crew is comprised of Chad Avrit (rear-tire changer), Jared Erspamer (tire carrier), John Gianninoto (fueler), Nick O’Dell (front-tire changer) and T.J. Semke (jackman). In addition, this group was the winning pit crew for last weekend’s Xfinity Series win for the No. 17 HendrickCars.com team at Circuit of The Americas.
UNIFIRST IS BACK: UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF), a North American leader in providing customized work uniform programs, corporate attire and facility service products, is back on board as the primary partner on No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for its first of five races in 2024.
FABULOUS 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Among the categories that the Rick Hendrick-owned organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for are all-time wins (304), poles (247), laps led (80,066) and championships (14). With William Byron’s victory at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the organization has won at least three races a year in each of the last 31 seasons.
NINE BY SIX BY THREE: Byron’s win at COTA marked the ninth time the Concord, North Carolina, based team had at least three wins through six races. That mark is the highest of all teams. The team accomplished this in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2022 and 2024.
PIT POWER: Based on Racing Insights data, all four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top six among Cup Series teams for the fastest average four-tire pit stop. The No. 24 RAPTOR pit crew ranks second (10.960 seconds). The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts pit crew is fourth (11.058 seconds) followed by the No. 5 HendrickCars.com pit crew in fifth (11.085 seconds) and the No. 48 Ally Racing pit crew is sixth (11.257 seconds).
XFINITY GETS THE DUB: Kyle Larson gave Hendrick Motorsports its first NASCAR Xfinity Series win since 2009 with a last-lap pass for the victory at COTA last weekend. The organization did not race in the series from 2010 to 2021 before re-starting a limited schedule in 2022. In its history, Hendrick Motorsports has earned one Xfinity Series championship (2003) and 27 race wins in the series. Eight more starts are on the schedule for the 2024 season.
WINNING IN THE RIVER CITY: Hendrick Motorsports has tallied 12 wins at Richmond Raceway. Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte lead the way with three victories, followed by team vice chairman Jeff Gordon with two. Alex Bowman, Larson, Joe Nemechek and Tim Richmond each have one win at the 0.75-mile track. The seven drivers to win in Virginia’s capital city are the most by a single organization.
LAST SPRING AT RICHMOND: In last April’s race at Richmond, Larson’s victory highlighted a strong day for Hendrick Motorsports. Josh Berry, who filled in for the sidelined Chase Elliott, finished second. Bowman finished eighth in the 400-lap event, while Byron led a race-high 117 laps and scored a stage win. All told, the team led 228 laps on the day. For the second consecutive spring race and the sixth time at Richmond, the team placed three cars inside the top 10.
NO SHORTAGE: Hendrick Motorsports leads all active Cup Series teams with 57 points-paying victories on short tracks. Gordon’s 17 short-track wins lead all drivers in team history. The active driver lineup has a combined seven short-track successes for the organization: Larson (three), Bowman (two), Byron (one) and Elliott (one). The team has three points-paying wins on short tracks in the Next Gen era (since 2022) with Larson (two) and Byron (one). Larson is one of three drivers with multiple short-track wins in the Next Gen car.
VICTORY IN VIRGINIA: Team owner Rick Hendrick grew up in Palmer Springs, Virginia, and his teams have won 40 Cup Series races in his home state. Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane in Virginia at least one time in 28 different seasons, including each of the past four full seasons. The most recent 13 races in Virginia have seen one of his cars emerge victorious on six occasions, with all four active drivers winning.
GET TO THE POINTS: Larson (416 points), Elliott (340 points) and Byron (333 points) rank third, fifth and seventh, respectively, in points scored on short tracks in the Next Gen car since its debut in 2022. On average finish, Larson (7.18) and Elliott (9.60) are second and fourth in that statistical category.
NIGHT SHIFT: The organization’s five night race wins in the Next Gen car are the most by all teams. Byron leads all drivers with three victories. Elliott and Larson each have one win under the lights in the latest iteration of the Cup Series car.
hase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what makes Richmond a tough track: “Richmond (Raceway) is super tough. You wouldn’t think it would be tough by looking at it and making a lap. It’s always been really difficult for me to get ahold of and be able to repeat and be good there time after time. It seems like the window to hit it right at Richmond is as small as it is anywhere that we go. There are very few guys on the circuit that I feel have had consistent success there year after year.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the challenge of Richmond: “We have a love-hate relationship with Richmond (Raceway). It’s one of my favorite tracks. I love racing there. I love the availability of different lines and short-track racing and all that, but it is the most fickle racetrack we go to. We can run well there one race and bring the exact same stuff back to the next race and just not be any good at all. So, I’m looking forward to getting up there. I think we’ve learned quite a few things over the time since we raced there last and look forward to applying them. We have just got to be better. Just being able to have good front-end pace and then being really consistent over the long run. We’ve had one or the other at times and have not been able to put it together as well as our competitors have. Looking forward to having the opportunity to do that this weekend and I feel good about it.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
