9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 28 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 6th
No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
MEMORABLE MARTINSVILLE: Last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, Chase Elliott was part of a historic 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick Motorsports, which came on the 40th anniversary weekend celebration of the organization’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory in 1984. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 had his best race statistically so far this season with a 126.7 driver rating. Elliott qualified third for the scheduled 400-lap race and finished the first two stages inside the top five – third and fourth, respectively. The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the lead in the final stage, pacing the field for 64 laps en route to a third-place result. It was his second consecutive top-five run.
SOMETHING’S COOKING: Sunday will mark the Cup Series’ ninth race of the 2024 season. Across the first eight races, Elliott completed all but one of the 2,429 laps in competition. Additionally, he has the fourth-best average running position (10.90) and has spent the fourth-most laps both inside the top five (762) and the top 10 (1,320). Elliott has led 87 laps this season, including the 80,000th for Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series. In 2024, Elliott and the No. 9 team continue to be fast in qualifying, earning five consecutive top-10 starting positions and six total on the year. With two top-five finishes and three top-10s, Elliott sits sixth in the Cup Series points standings.
LONE STAR STATS: Elliott has made 13 premier series starts at Texas Motor Speedway. The 28-year-old driver garnered two top-five finishes, six top-10s and led 89 laps in those starts. Since the introduction of the Next Gen Cup Series car in 2022, Elliott has spent the fourth-most laps inside the top 10 (367) at the Fort Worth, Texas, track. The six-time National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver also has five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the 1.5-mile track, the site of his first career Xfinity Series victory in April of 2014. In fact, Elliott finished eighth or better in those five starts.
1.5-MILERS: Elliott will make his 80th start on a 1.5-mile track in the Cup Series this weekend at Texas. In his previous 79 races on tracks of that length, he has two victories (Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2020 and Kansas Speedway in 2018), collected 22 top-five finishes – eight of which are runner-up results – 38 top-10s and led 1,041 laps.
AG at TMS: Alan Gustafson, No. 9 team crew chief, is set to call his 36th Texas Cup Series race on Sunday in his 20th season atop the pit box. In his previous 35 starts at the track, the Ormond Beach, Florida, native has eight top-five finishes, 17 top-10s and 393 laps led. His best finish of second came in 2014 with NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon.
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 eight Cup Series races in 2024, the No. 9 pit crew ranks second in average four-tire pit stop time (10.848 seconds). On March 17 at Bristol Motor Speedway, 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 (tire changer) and T.J. Semke (jackman).
WHEN CHASE WINS, YOU WIN: Fans can visit Hooters on Mondays after Cup Series races this season and ask their server for free fried pickles (with a drink purchase) when Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team finishes in the top 10. If the No. 9 team wins, customers receive 10 free wings with any 10-wing purchase. Get more details at hooters.com/racing. Don’t miss the No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on track this weekend.
FABULOUS 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Among the categories that the organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for are all-time wins (305), poles (249), laps led (80,453) and championships (14). With William Byron’s win at Martinsville Speedway, the team has won at least four races a year in 30 of the last 31 seasons. It is also the sixth time the team has won at least four of the first eight races in a season (1995, 1996, 1997, 2007 and 2022 were the other occurrences).
1-2-3: Last Sunday at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports became the first team to record a top-three sweep at the 0.526-mile track—a venue where the team has won a track record 29 times. Byron won the race, Kyle Larson placed second and Chase Elliott finished third. In its history, the organization has three additional 1-2-3 finishes: the 1997 DAYTONA 500, the 2021 race at Dover Motor Speedway (where the team finished 1-2-3-4) and the 2023 spring race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
TALLYING TOP FIVES: In the last four races in the 2024 season, at least two drivers from the squad have finished in the top five. At Martinsville, it was the Byron-Larson-Elliott 1-2-3 finish. At Richmond Raceway, Larson placed third and Elliott was fifth. For the Circuit of The Americas race, Byron won and Alex Bowman was fourth in the final running order. Bowman and Larson finished fourth and fifth in the Bristol Motor Speedway spring race, respectively. This is the organization’s longest streak since the final four races of the 2021 season.
FROM THE POLE: Hendrick Motorsports is one pole position away from becoming the first Cup Series team to reach 250. Across 31 tracks, 20 drivers, including all four of the team’s current drivers have won poles for the squad. Team vice chairman Jeff Gordon’s 81 pole positions are the most by a driver in the organization’s history and Daytona International Speedway tops the track list at 23 pole positions.
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. 9 pit crew is second (10.848 seconds), followed by the No. 24 pit crew in third (10.945 seconds) and the No. 5 pit crew in fourth (11.022 seconds). The No. 48 pit crew is sixth (11.138 seconds).
LONE STAR LOWDOWN: With 11 points-paying wins at Texas Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports is the most victorious team at the track. Jimmie Johnson accounts for seven of those and holds the track record for most Cup Series wins. Terry Labonte, Byron, Gordon and Larson each have one win at the 1.5-mile venue.
LAST TIME AT TEXAS: On Hendrick Motorsports’ previous visit to the Fort Worth, Texas, facility on Sept. 24, 2023, history was made as the team became the first to reach 300 wins in the Cup Series. Byron secured the landmark victory by leading the final six laps. Larson led 99 laps on the day but was involved in a late-race incident in turn one while battling for the lead.
NO LIMITS TO LEADING: In the past three races at Texas, the Concord, North Carolina-based team has led 55.94% of the laps run (523 of 935). Over that span, Larson leads all drivers in laps led (374), while Byron has paced the field for the fourth-most laps (103) and Elliott has led the fifth-most circuits (45).
NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Team owner Rick Hendrick’s six wins on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car lead all organizations in the Cup Series. Since 2022, Larson has three wins on 1.5-mile tracks, while Byron has two victories and they are two of the four drivers with multiple victories on that track length. In addition, Larson (566) and Byron (564) rank one-two in points earned on 1.5-milers in the Next Gen era. Additionally, Bowman has one triumph on this track length in this span of time. Earlier this year at Las Vegas, Larson scored the victory in the series’ lone 2024 race at a 1.5-mile layout.
SWEEP SENSATIONS: In four of Hendrick Motorsports’ six Next Gen wins on 1.5-mile tracks, a driver has swept the stages en route to the win. Larson did this in all three of his victories on 1.5-mile tracks (Homestead-Miami Speedway in October of 2022 and Las Vegas in October of 2023 and March of 2024) and Byron accomplished it in one of his wins (Las Vegas in March of 2023).
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the team’s momentum right now: “It was great to be in the hunt last weekend at Martinsville (Speedway). We’ve made a lot of gains this season—everything from qualifying to pit stops to strategy calls. I really feel good about where we’re at as a team and where we’re heading. As I said after the race, I’m hungry for more.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Texas: “Texas (Motor Speedway) is certainly a unique track and lends itself some difficulties, but I feel good about where we ran there last year and where our intermediate program is at. We had a good run at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway). I think we should have finished better than we did, but we can build on that. We need to go to Texas and have some success. We’re operating well as a team and we have good pace in our Chevrolets. Qualifying will be key this weekend. We have to stay upfront or find a way to be upfront and stay upfront because track position is difficult.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
