WINNING MOMENT: Chase Elliott has one win at Phoenix Raceway, which he captured in the 2020 season finale to secure his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. The five-time National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver started the race at the rear of the field and maneuvered his way to the front, leading a race-high 153 laps en route to the victory.
PHOENIX 411: The driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will make his 15th Phoenix Cup Series start this Sunday. In his previous 14 races at the track, he’s amassed one win, five top-five finishes and eight top-10s. Elliott has paced the field for 546 laps at the 1-mile oval, which is his second-most on active tracks and places him with the third-most laps led among current Cup drivers at the track since the start of stage racing in 2017. Additionally, the 2020 Cup champion’s average start of 5.57 at the desert oval is his second-best on active tracks with more than two starts, only trailing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (4.67).
EVERY MILE A MEMORY: In 55 Cup starts on tracks measuring 1 to 1.37 miles in length (Darlington Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Phoenix and WWT Raceway), Elliott has four wins. His first came at Dover in 2018 and was followed by his championship-winning performance at Phoenix in 2020. His two most recent victories came last season at Dover and Nashville. Accompanying his wins are 22 top-five finishes, 29 top-10s and 1,246 laps led across those starts on tracks in this range.
GUSTAFSON AT PHOENIX: On Sunday, Alan Gustafson will call his 38th Phoenix race as a Cup Series crew chief. In his previous 37 starts there, the veteran team leader has collected four wins via four different drivers (Kyle Busch in 2005, Mark Martin in 2009, Jeff Gordon in 2011 and Elliott in 2020). He is tied with Hendrick Motorsports vice president of competition Chad Knaus for the second-most victories by a crew chief at Phoenix. Gustafson has also tallied 12 top-five results, 24 top-10s and 977 laps led. In his most recent race at the track, working with fill-in driver Josh Berry, the Ormond Beach, Florida, native led the No. 9 team to a 10th-place result.
PIT STOP POWER: With one race remaining in the 2023 season, the No. 9 pit crew holds the ninth-fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 11.237 seconds. In two races this season, the over-the-wall squad had the fastest four-tire pit stop in the field, most recently laying down a time of 9.409 seconds at Texas Motor Speedway in September. 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).
HEADING HOME: Gianninoto will compete in front of his home-track crowd at Phoenix on Sunday. The Tucson, Arizona, native graduated with honors from Catalina Foothills High School and went on to play as an offensive lineman for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2006 - earning his first letter in 2007 and becoming a team captain in 2010. In 2012, he participated in the NFL’s Carolina Panthers training camp before signing with Hendrick Motorsports that September. Gianninoto set a Guinness World Record in 2018, teaming with Sunoco for the most vehicles refueled by an individual in one hour (148).
GET UP AND GO: NAPA Auto Parts is on board the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the season finale this weekend at Phoenix. The Atlanta-based company has been Elliott’s primary partner for eight of his 14 Cup starts at the desert oval, including his 2020 victory. This season marks NAPA’s 10th year partnering with the Dawsonville, Georgia, native dating back to his first season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Get a closer look at the 2023 paint scheme here.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what he values most about his team: "They're top notch. Just a really good group. I enjoy going to work with them each week. There’s not a lot of ego. They enjoy having fun, putting in the work and showing up prepared. Ultimately, as a teammate and a competitor, that’s all I can ask for. If we are all showing up and we are as best prepared as we can be and go and give it our best effort each week, that’s all I can ask for from my side. I try to give that back to them as well. I think we all know each other well enough at this point that when we show up we are going to give it our best effort and give it our all. I don’t question that out of them and they don’t question that out of me."
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the keys to performing well at Phoenix: "The corners are quite a bit different, so getting those as similar as you can is key. Having comfort and security on corner entry, with good center turn and drive off is also important. The fact that the corner entries are significantly different make it challenging, but that's also what makes it fun and unique."
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