MUSIC CITY MAGIC: Last Sunday on the 1.33-mile concrete oval of Nashville Superspeedway, Chase Elliott scored his 15th career NASCAR Cup Series victory. Elliott led the final 39 laps of the race to earn his second win of the 2022 season. His first came in May at Dover Motor Speedway, another concrete track. This marks the fifth consecutive season that the 26-year-old driver has visited victory lane more than once.
TOP DOG: Following last week’s win at Nashville, Elliott not only continues to lead the regular season point standings, but now sits atop the projected playoff standings. He currently has two wins on the year, 13 playoff points and 513 laps led. He’s one of five drivers to score multiple wins this season, and his laps led and playoff points are both top marks for Elliott through 17 events.
ROAD AMERICA REWIND: The Wisconsin venue was the site of Elliott’s second of two wins during the 2021 season, both coming on road courses. Elliott took to the 4.048-mile road course in 34th but moved through the field quickly, ending the first stage in the 10th position. He finished stage two 15th after pitting under the green flag. Staying out during the stage break, he reset for the final stage in second and took the lead for the first time on the day a few laps later. Getting shuffled back to fifth after pitting under a caution, he used his fresh tires to retake the lead with 17 to go. He would remain there, taking the checkered flag with over a five-second lead. This remains the deepest starting position in the field for an eventual road course Cup Series race winner.
9 IN 22: Across two road course starts in 2022, Elliott and the No. 9 team have finishes of fourth at Circuit of The Americas and eighth at Sonoma Raceway. Those account for two of Elliott’s series-leading 11 top-10 efforts on the year (tied with Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain). He is one of only four drivers to finish inside the top-10 in both road racing events.
IN GOOD COMPANY: Elliott has proven his road-racing prowess, leading all active drivers with seven wins on road courses. He’s also third on all-time list of drivers in that category, trailing only NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native has victories across five different serpentine layouts, which is the most in series history. In 21 Cup Series starts on that track type, Elliott has an average finish of 7.71, which is not only the best among active drivers, but third all-time among drivers (five or more starts), behind NASCAR legends Fireball Roberts and Buck Baker. He’s only 0.01 away from tying Baker. His seven stage wins on road courses are also the top mark in the series.
WINNING COMBO: Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson are the longest active driver/crew chief pairing at Hendrick Motorsports and it’s for good reason. Together, they’ve earned 15 Cup Series wins, which is the third-best among active driver/crew chief pairings in the series. Those victories also account for nearly half of Gustafson’s wins at the Cup level. The veteran crew chief has accumulated 35 wins total – second-most among active crew chiefs - with four different drivers (Elliott, Gordon, Mark Martin and Kyle Busch).
AG’S ROAD COURSE PERFORMANCE: At Road America, Gustafson will call his 43rd road course race from atop the pit box. In those starts, he has led his team to seven wins – a series-high among active crew chiefs – with 15 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s.
BIG 10 FOR NAPA: Sunday’s victory at Nashville was the 10th for NAPA AUTO PARTS as a primary partner for Elliott and the No. 9 team as well as the third straight for the Atlanta-based company. In addition to Nashville, NAPA was also on Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet when he earned the checkered flag at Dover earlier this year and at Road America last July.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on heading back to Road America: "I’m excited to get back to Road America. I thought last year’s event was really good. For me, I was always partial to having the Fourth (of July) race at Daytona, but the crowd was really good and the energy was super high, and I think we need to have an energetic race on the Fourth. That’s a big weekend for our country. It’s a race inside our sport that I think is deserving of a lot of energy too, because we are a sport that’s going on this time of year and that needs to be a big event. I felt like the people up there welcomed us with open arms and brought a lot of energy. Anytime you have energy at the track, it makes it fun for everybody involved - whether you’re working inside the sport, you’re a driver, you’re another a fan there, it just makes for a better event, better environment. Last year, I felt was a great example of that. I hope that’s the case again this weekend. I hope the results are the same this weekend and everybody has a big time."
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what makes Road America hard to prepare for: "Road America is different. I love the track. It’s a great visual road course. Braking zones are the first thing that come to mind there, though. You need to be good in those. There’s some really big braking zones that are difficult. The car needs to be able to change direction well and have stability at the same time. You can’t swing the back to change directions. If you do that, then there’s more that the driver has to manage. There’s also the course intricacies that you have to prepare for. There’s a few tight 90 degree corners, the carousel, the kink – a high-speed left. That’s what makes it so difficult. There are so many styles of corners there that make it harder. I think stability in the braking zones and consistency out of the car are the biggest things to hone in on. You key in on one area and want the front tires to be responsive and follow his hands. If we can do that without the back sliding, then that’s ultimately the best thing. We’ll try to do that this weekend at Road America. I’m looking forward to the challenge."
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