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| Chase Elliott has won three of the past 11 races. |
“I think that needs to be the mindset, for sure. I think every week has to be pressure-packed. You have to keep the pressure on yourselves. If you were to make it to Homestead, you have to pretty much win Homestead. I think you have to have that mentality every week. The points game is nice, I guess, to play. Really, you just need to care about winning. If you're trying to win, putting yourself in position to win, that's way more important than just barely trying to squeak through. Having the ability to win, do it weekly, putting yourselves in those positions week by week is the most important thing. If we can do that these next three weeks, I think we can give ourselves a chance.”
No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson on whether his past playoff runs can aid him over the next four weeks:
“Well, I'd like to think so. I'd hope so. Certainly, from my perspective it does. There's no replacement for experience. When I was young, it was like, 'Experience? What does that do for you?' You go through things and you realize it's a big deal. I've lost my fair share, I've won my fair share. As you go through that, you kind of know what works and doesn't work. You can help apply it, use that to your advantage.”
Chase Elliott will be available to members of the media on Saturday, Oct 27, at 8:15 a.m. local time in the media center at Martinsville Speedway.
LET’S GO: On Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Mountain Dew team captured their third victory of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season. Although a Diet Mountain Dew / Dark Knight Rises car won with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2012, it marked the first win for a Mountain Dew primary paint scheme since October 1982 with Darrell Waltrip. Since the Watkins Glen race weekend at the beginning of August, Elliott has won three times – the first three wins of his NASCAR Cup Series career – and earned eight top-10s, six of which were top-five finishes. The No. 9 team is on quite a run, advancing to the Round of 8 in the Cup Series playoffs – one step closer to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
THREE WINS: At 22 years, 10 months, 23 days old on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Elliott became the second-youngest driver to earn three wins, 11 top-two results and 33 top-five finishes – Kyle Busch ranks first in all three categories. Alan Gustafson was the crew chief for both Elliott and Busch’s first three wins. Elliott is the youngest driver in Cup Series history to reach 56 top-10s. With Elliott’s three wins all coming in the 2018 season, he has set new track records at Watkins Glen, Dover and Kansas for being the youngest NASCAR Cup Series winner at each.
#DI9: This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 begins. Since the start of the playoffs in 2017, Elliott has earned six top-two finishes, tied for the most with Busch and Martin Truex Jr. This season alone, the driver of the No. 9 has already collected three top-five results in the playoffs – tied for the most with Truex and Joey Logano – and is currently the only driver to win more than one race in the playoffs. With only a nine-race span between his first and third win, Elliott joins the ranks of Tony Stewart (seven races) and Bobby Labonte (nine races) – both of whom are NASCAR Cup Series champions – for the fewest number of starts between their first three wins in the modern era (1972-present).
ROUND OF 8: Bring on the Round of 8, which consists of Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway. Elliott’s top-10 percentage on the next three tracks combined is 62.5 percent, the best of all playoff drivers. His top-five percentage for the Round of 8 tracks combined is 31.25 percent, ranking him second among the playoff drivers (Busch is ranked first at 44.16 percent). Elliott has led laps at all three tracks for a total of 292 laps (Martinsville – 143, Texas – 9, ISM – 140). He finished in the top 11 in each of the three races on the tracks in the Round of 8 earlier this season.
THE LAST 11: In the last 11 races, Elliott has earned six top-five finishes, which is the most among all drivers during that span. He also secured eight top-10 finishes and three wins, both tied for the most.
MARTINSVILLE SUCCESS: Elliott finished inside the top 10 in two of the last three races at Martinsville Speedway. In the one race he finished outside of the top 10 – the playoff race at the track last season – he led 123 laps and was spun from the lead with three laps to go, ultimately finishing 27th. Elliott is currently on a streak of three straight top-five finishes on short tracks, marking the longest active streak in the Cup Series. He has earned four top-10s on short tracks in 2018, tied for the second-highest total behind Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick's five. No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson has won twice at Martinsville.
SUNENERGY1 RETURNS: For the fourth and final time this season, SunEnergy1, one of the world’s largest privately held solar energy companies, will adorn the hood of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The SunEnergy1 team was most recently on the No. 9 Chevy at the Charlotte Motor Speedway "roval," where Elliott finished sixth and advanced to the Round of 12 in the playoffs. The Mooresville, North Carolina, company also served as the primary sponsor for Elliott’s first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen in August.
SEE ELLIOTT AT MARTINSVILLE: On Sunday, Oct. 28, Elliott is scheduled to participate in a question-and-answer session at 11:45 a.m. local at the Martinsville Speedway pre-race experience on the frontstretch. For more information on the experience, click here. He will also appear at the Team Chevy Racing display at 12 p.m. local time for a question-and-answer session
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