No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2020 DAYTONA Road Course winner Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, will be available to members of the media via video conference on Friday, Feb. 19, at 11 a.m. ET. Visit NASCARmedia.com for details.
500 REWIND: Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS team started 12th in the DAYTONA 500 on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway and battled inside the top 10 for the majority of the rain-delayed event. Elliott narrowly missed a last-lap accident and brought home a runner-up finish – his career best in “The Great American Race.”
WORLD CENTER OF (ROAD) RACING: This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will return to the DAYTONA Road Course. During the inaugural event last season, Elliott dominated the race, winning the first stage and leading a race-high 34 laps en route to his second victory of the year. More recently, he started from the rear of the field in the Clash at DAYTONA and battled his way to a runner-up finish in the exhibition race.
NEW SEASON, SAME CHASE: As the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into 2021, Elliott carried over his championship momentum by finishing second at Daytona for his third consecutive top-two result dating back to last season. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet has won three of the last six races and is the only driver to collect multiple victories in that time frame. Elliott has also led 720 laps in the last 11 Cup events, which is 289 more than any other driver.
NAPA KNOW HOW: On Sunday at the DAYTONA Road Course, the No. 9 Chevrolet will feature the familiar blue, white and yellow NAPA AUTO PARTS paint scheme. The Atlanta-based company is serving as majority sponsor for Elliott and the No. 9 team for 25 NASCAR Cup Series races this season.
ROAD COURSE WARRIOR: Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, is set to make his 13th Cup Series start on a road course this weekend. In his previous 12 races, he has collected the most wins (five) and stage wins (five) of active drivers. Elliott has garnered six top-five finishes, eight top-10s and a total of 240 laps led. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native holds the best average finish (8.92) on road courses of active drivers and sixth-best all-time average. Last season, Elliott swept both races on road courses (DAYTONA Road Course and Charlotte ROVAL). The 25-year-old driver also led the most laps (61) on these tracks in 2020.
WINNING RECORD: Elliott continues to prove his road-course prowess after winning four consecutive races on road courses and five of the last seven. Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon holds the record for most consecutive road-course wins with six (1997-2000). Elliott is also the youngest driver to win a road course race (22 years, 8 months, 8 days) and holds the overall second-best win percentage (41.7 %) behind only Dan Gurney (55.6 %).
HOMETOWN WIN: Last season’s win at the inaugural DAYTONA Road Course race was crew chief Alan Gustafson’s first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at his home track. He hails from Ormond Beach, Florida, just down the road from Daytona International Speedway. After graduating from Seabreeze High School, he enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to study mechanical engineering. Gustafson is in his 17th full-time season as a crew chief and sixth year with Elliott. He has called the shots for five different drivers (Elliott, Gordon, Mark Martin, Casey Mears and Kyle Busch).
GUSTAFSON ON ROAD COURSES: Gustafson will call his 35th road-course race from atop the pit box this Sunday at Daytona. In his previous 34 starts, the Florida native has garnered five wins, the most of active crew chiefs, 10 top-five finishes, 16 top-10s and 297 laps led.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on 2021 road courses: “Road courses have been good to us the past few trips, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to go good every time. There has not been one part of me that watched the schedule change, saw seven road courses and thought, ‘Yeah, we’ve got it now.’ That’s just not how I am. At the end of the day, you have to be good everywhere and I want to be good everywhere. We as a team want to get to the point where we can win on any given week: road course, circle track, intermediate, dirt…whatever it is, we want to be able to win at any time. The great teams and the great drivers are capable of doing that, and I think we are capable doing that. So that’s where my head’s at – trying to be good everywhere.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on what the team learned from the Clash: “I didn’t feel like we were as good as we needed to be during the Clash. We did have a lot of circumstances that prohibited us from kind of working our way up - some of our own doing, some not. The windshield was one certainly, our strategy and execution was also pretty poor. We had to come back from those things and ultimately we were headed towards the front and I think we were probably in our best position until Martin (Truex) crashed. We didn't need that caution because we were out of tires. We weren’t as good as we wanted to be, for sure. We are going to try and improve a little bit and give Chase a better car so we are focused on trying to do that for this weekend.”
FIT FOR THE CHAMP: Last week at Daytona, Elliott was outfitted with his very own WWE title. WWE Superstars Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, better known as the Street Profits, presented the reigning champion with a WWE title that features customized side plates. Elliott is the first NASCAR Cup Series champion to receive this honor. Click here to see the presentation.
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