9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 28 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 3rd
No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
FOUR IN FIVE: The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team has been on a heater over the last five NASCAR Cup Series races. Driver Chase Elliott has propelled the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to four top-five results, including a win last month at Texas Motor Speedway. In the premier series’ most recent race (at Dover Motor Speedway), the 2020 Cup Series champion started 29th and rallied to a fifth-place result, earning top-10 finishes in each stage. Elliott’s average finish in those five races is 5.80, the best among the Cup Series field.
RUNNING STRONG: Elliott has posted impressive numbers in 2024. After 11 races, he sits third in the points standings, just 33 markers behind the leader, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. Elliott has secured one win (Texas) and is in a six-way tie that includes teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman for the second-most top-five finishes (four). He ranks fourth in laps run in the top five (954) and top 10 (1,893). Additionally, Elliott holds the second-best average finish (10.27) and the fourth-best average running position (10.80) among series regulars.
KANSAS RUNDOWN: This weekend, the Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway, where Elliott won in the fall of 2018. He led 44 laps en route to the win. Across his 16 premier series starts at the 1.5-mile oval, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native has six top-five finishes, 10 top-10s and 249 laps led. He’s finished seventh or better in eight of his last 11 starts at the 1.5-mile venue, including seventh and sixth-place results last season. Elliott’s six top-five results are tied for his second-most at a track (with Martinsville Speedway and Richmond Raceway) on the Cup circuit and his 10 top-10s are also tied for his second-most (with Dover and Michigan International Speedway).
1.5-MILE PERFORMANCE: In 80 career Cup Series starts on mile-and-a-half tracks, Elliott has three victories (Kansas in 2018, Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2020 and Texas earlier this year), 23 top-five finishes – eight of which are runner-up results – and 39 top-10s. He’s paced the field for 1,080 laps on this track length in his Cup career. This season on 1.5-mile tracks, Elliott is tied for the second-best average finish with Byron (6.50) and has the third-most points earned (75).
NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022, Elliott has earned six wins, placing him in a three-way tie for the fourth-most victories. In that span, he holds the best average finish (12.38), just ahead of Byron.
GUSTAFSON AT KANSAS: On Sunday, Alan Gustafson will call his 33rd Kansas race in his 20th season as a Cup Series crew chief. In his previous 32 starts at the track with five different drivers (Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Elliott and NASCAR Hall of Famers Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon), Gustafson has accumulated two wins – one with team vice chairman Gordon (2014) and one with Elliott (2018) – 10 top-five finishes, 18 top-10s and 367 laps led.
FOUR TIRES FAST: On lap 84 at Texas, the No. 9 pit crew laid down the fastest four-tire pit stop (9.076 seconds) of the 2024 season, according to data from Racing Insights. The over-the-wall squad has remained the same since 2018 and currently holds the fastest average four-tire pit stop time (10.750 seconds) this season. The 2021 Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew award-winning group 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).
BACK HOME: Semke, the No. 9 jackman, hails from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, less than 40 miles from the track in Kansas City, Kansas. Semke was a part-time bounty hunter before stepping on the football field at the University of Kansas in 2012. The 31-year-old was a defensive lineman for the Jayhawks for three years. Semke signed with Hendrick Motorsports in October of 2016 and joined the No. 9 team in 2018.
GET UP AND GO: NAPA Auto Parts is back as the primary partner on the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 this weekend at Kansas, marking the 12th time the Atlanta-based company’s colors have been onboard Elliott’s Cup Series ride in “The Sunflower State.” This weekend, NAPA’s special, white-based scheme returns for its third race of the 2024 season. After its debut at the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in February, the look returned for the March race at Circuit of The Americas.
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 (306), poles (250), laps led (80,649) and championships (14). Their next top-five finish will be its 1,250th and mark the first time that a team has reached that milestone.
HENDRICK HOMECOMING: On May 24 and 25, Hendrick Motorsports will hold “Hendrick Homecoming.” The free fan event, taking place over the same weekend as the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500, will celebrate the organization’s 40th anniversary and feature autograph sessions with past and present drivers, games, displays, giveaways and more. For more information on the schedule of appearances (as they are announced) and how fans can register to enter the raffle for autograph sessions, click here.
WINNING TRIO: In 2024, William Byron (three wins), Chase Elliott (one win) and Kyle Larson (one win) have combined to tally five wins through the first 11 races of the season. The Concord, North Carolina, based squad has won at least five races in a year in 22 of the last 24 seasons. The five-victory start to this year matches the team’s second-best start (in 1997 and 2022), with 2007’s eight wins through 11 races as the best start to a campaign in organizational history.
SCORING STAGE WINS: Since the advent of stage racing in 2017, Hendrick Motorsports has two of the three drivers that have recorded six stage wins through the first 11 races of a season. Byron earned six stage wins in 2023 and Larson joined that list with a stage victory at Dover Motor Speedway last Sunday. No driver has ever had seven stage wins through 12 races.
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 tops the board (10.750 seconds), followed by the No. 24 pit crew in third (10.980 seconds), the No. 5 pit crew in fourth (10.983 seconds) and the No. 48 pit crew is sixth (11.186 seconds).
POWER IN THE PLAINS: With eight wins, the team is tied for the most victories among all Cup Series organizations at Kansas Speedway. Team vice chairman Jeff Gordon won the first race at the track in 2001 and earned three wins in total at the 1.5-mile oval. Jimmie Johnson also posted three wins at the Kansas City, Kansas, venue. Elliott and Larson each have one triumph. The team’s 2,116 laps out front at the facility are also the best among all teams in the series.
HEY HEY HEY: Last year in the two races at Kansas, the team tallied a series-best three top-five finishes, six top-10s and 246 laps led. Larson finished in the top five in both events, while Elliott placed in the top 10 in each race. Byron scored a pole and a top-five finish in the spring, while Alex Bowman earned a top-10 in the fall. Larson (81) and Elliott (71) ranked third and fifth, respectively, in points scored.
KICKING IT AT KANSAS: Kansas has hosted four Cup Series races since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022. In that span, Larson is one of two drivers to finish inside the top 10 in each race. Bowman has finished in the top 10 in all three races he’s run — he missed the spring race last year due to an injury. Over those four races, Larson has the most laps led (213) and Bowman has the third-most circuits out front (107). Since 2022, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are in the top 10 of average finish at the 1.5-mile track (among drivers with more than one start) — Larson is second (4.00), Bowman is third (7.66), Byron is fifth (10.00) and Elliott is 10th (13.25). When it comes to points per race, the quartet is also all in the top 10 at Kansas — Larson ranks second (38.5), Bowman is sixth (33), Elliott holds down seventh (32.5) and Byron sits 10th (30.5).
NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Team owner Rick Hendrick’s seven wins on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car lead all organizations in the Cup Series, with the next closest teams having three triumphs. Two of those victories have come in both races this season on 1.5-mile tracks, with Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Elliott at Texas Motor Speedway. Since 2022, Larson has a series-best three wins on 1.5-mile tracks, while Byron has had two victories and they are two of the four drivers with multiple victories on that track length. Bowman and Elliott have each had one triumph on this track length in this period. Over the last 11 races on 1.5-milers, Larson and Byron are the only repeat winners. In addition, Byron (600) and Larson (592) rank one-two in points earned on 1.5-milers in the Next Gen era.
SWEEP SENSATIONS: In four of Hendrick Motorsports’ seven 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 what makes Kansas a good track to race at: “I enjoy going to Kansas (Speedway). I think that the track has really aged well since they did the repave. It’s a place that offers some room to race and has some different lanes to choose from. That is really all you can ask for from a driver’s perspective is just to have some options, so we’re not all married to the same spot all the time on track.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the team’s gains on mile-and-a-halfs: “Mile-and-a-half tracks are certainly a place that we needed to improve upon and yeah, so far, so good. Kansas (Speedway) has been a strong track, historically for us. Hopefully, we can take the improvements we’ve made over this season at the mile-and-a-halfs, apply them to Kansas, get a really good result, be competitive and race at the front all day. Even though we’ve been good there, I certainly don’t take it for granted. We’ll work hard at it.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
