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| Chase Elliott is 15/1 to win at Richmond. |
“I don’t really think of Richmond as a short track. I think Bristol and Martinsville are kind of the only two short tracks on the schedule. Richmond is just a different place and I think that is what makes it so tough. It seems everyone knows how to drive the racetrack and it’s hard to be different. That may be what makes the racing pretty good there because it’s hard for people to be different and everyone is kind of choked into doing the same thing and you really have to be superior to show your strength.”
MICAH ROBERTS' TAKE: #9 Chase Elliott (15/1) - He sits 14th in points, but this is a good track for him. he's one of three drivers to have top-fives at Phoenix, Richmond and New Hampshire this season. The other two ate Busch and Kevin Harvick. His runner-up in the spring was his best Richmond finish, and that was way before Hendrick Motorsports started showing more horsepower.
Chase Elliott will be available to members of the media on Friday, Sept. 21, at 9:30 a.m. local time in the media center at Richmond Raceway.
HOOTERS RETURNS: This weekend at Richmond Raceway, the orange and white Hooters paint scheme will adorn the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. A casual dining establishment with a deep history in NASCAR, the Atlanta-based company was a two-race primary sponsor of the No. 9 team this season with Richmond being its final race of 2018. Chase Elliott also piloted the No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Daytona in July, when the team captured the pole. Elliott was involved in a multi-car incident at Daytona and the resulting damage ended the team’s day with a 34th-place finish.
SHORT TRACKS: Elliott has made 20 short-track (Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond) starts in his NASCAR Cup Series career. In those starts, the 22-year-old driver has collected seven top-10 finishes, four of which were top-fives, and led 271 laps. Elliott averages a starting position of 10.75 and finishing position of 13.4. In Elliott’s most recent two short-track starts (Bristol in August and Richmond in April), he collected top-three finishes in both and led 112 laps.
GUSTAFSON AT RICHMOND: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 27th NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond from atop the pit box this weekend. In Gustafson’s previous 26 starts with five different drivers (Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Elliott), he has accumulated 11 top-five finishes – five being runner-up results – 15 top-10s and 532 laps led at the track. The only crew chief with more second-place finishes at the 0.75-mile track is Dale Inman, who has 10.
LAST TIME AT RICHMOND: During the last visit to Richmond in April, Elliott started on the outside pole and ran inside the top five for much of Stage 1 until tire fall-off saw him begin to slip back a few spots. He managed to maintain a top-10 position, finishing the first stage in seventh. The 22-year-old driver continued to race inside the top 10 for the majority of the second stage as well until he radioed to his team that he was battling the handling of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, reporting he might have used up the tires too quickly. Elliott fell to 15th before the green-checkered flag waved at the end of Stage 2. He began the final segment in ninth and continued to push inside the top 10 for the remainder of the race. With the help of a few great restarts by Elliott and quick stops by the No. 9 crew, the team collected a runner-up finish.
VEGAS REWIND: The driver of the No. 9 Chevy earned stage points in the first two stages of the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. On Lap 213, Elliott was running inside the top 10 when he was involved in a multi-car accident. The resulting damage to the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 cut the team’s day short. Elliott was credited with a 36th-place finish.
MTJF STEERING WHEEL: Throughout the month of September, Elliott will run the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation steering wheel center pad in his No. 9 machine. September is Ovarian and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The foundation is raising awareness and funding for the diseases through the steering wheel program.
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