Chase Elliott top-10s in past six races heading to Indy

Chase Elliott is 20/1 to win Sunday at Indy

Chase Elliott on racing at Indianapolis:
“I think it will be really similar to what it’s been there in the past. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been the best track for me. I think that we can go up there and make the most of it and try to get a little better than what we have been in the past. That is the ultimate goal and we will see where we stack up this go around.”

IN 2018, SO FAR: Chase Elliott has garnered some impressive stats through the first 25 races of the 2018 season. The driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race in August at Watkins Glen – clinching his spot in the playoffs in the process – and has collected eight top-five finishes and 14 top-10s. He has led a total of 220 laps and averages a starting position of 11.2 and finishing position of 12.2. Seven times this season, Elliott has captured his best career finish at a track – Watkins Glen (first), Richmond (second), Bristol (third), Talladega (third), Sonoma (fourth), New Hampshire (fifth), and Darlington (fifth). Elliott currently ranks seventh in the playoff standings as the series heads into the regular-season finale this weekend.

KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: Elliott continues to keep his top-10 streak alive as the Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 22-year-old driver has finished inside the top 10 in each of the last six races (New Hampshire, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, and Darlington), tying his longest career top-10 streak, which came during his rookie season and spanned six races from Talladega (May) to Michigan (June).

LAST SIX: During his six-race top-10 streak, Elliott has led 201 laps after leading just 19 laps through the previous 19 races. He has also improved his average finish to 5.0 during that span compared to 14.42 during the first 19 races of the season. His four top-five finishes in the past six races match his total from the first 19 races.

ELLIOTT’S FAVORITE STREET: This month, Elliott is featured in the September issue of Delta Sky Magazine as part of its “My Favorite Street” feature. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native discussed his favorite street and places to visit in Costa Rica.

DARLINGTON REWIND: Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS team raced inside the top 10 for the majority of the evening in the Southern 500 last weekend at Darlington Raceway en route to a fifth-place finish – a career best finish at the 1.366-mile track.

HOME SWEET HOME: No. 9 team engineer Tom Gray hails from Indianapolis. Gray attended Purdue University and majored in mechanical engineering technology.

SEE ELLIOTT AT INDY: On Sunday, Sept. 9, Elliott will appear at the Team Chevy Stage at 11:30 a.m. local time for a question-and-answer session.

DOUBLE DUTY: In addition to his full-time duty piloting the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series, Elliott will once again compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race driving the No. 23 Chevrolet for GMS Racing on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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.

Greg Biffle: "Michigan is one of my favorite tracks"

Biffle is using the same chassis that he won with at Michigan in 2012

Greg Biffle – Michigan Advance
Team: No. 16 3M /Give Kids a Smile Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Matt Puccia
Primary Chassis: RK-817 Last ran the All-Star race – finished 15th
Backup Chassis: RK-803 Last ran Bristol – finished 11th

ADVANCE NOTES

Biffle at Michigan
* Biffle has 20 Sprint Cup career starts at Michigan, earning three wins, nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes.

* Michigan is Biffle’s second-best average finishing track. His average finish is 11.8 from an average starting position of 13.2.
* Biffle has led a lap in all but six of his 20 starts at Michigan.

The Car
Chassis RK-817 is the same car that Biffle won with in the fall at Michigan last year.

Michigan Roots
Justin Hines, engine tuner for the No. 16 Ford, is originally from Garden City, Michigan. Hines started working at Roush Industries in Michigan at the engine shop back in 1994 before moving to North Carolina in 2002 and working for Jack’s race teams. Hines was the engine tuner for Greg’s rookie year in the Cup Series.

Give Kids a Smile
The No. 16 team is excited to be teaming up again with the American Dental Association’s (ADA) Give Kids A Smile program, the ADA Foundation, Henry Schein, Inc., Care-Credit, Oral Health America, and 3M ESPE Dental Products to put good oral health on the fast track for young fans of NASCAR. Across the country, we will help deliver the message to children about healthy habits like brushing, flossing, visiting the dentist, and making smart food choices.

Biffle on Michigan:
“I couldn’t be happier coming off the run at Pocono going into Michigan. We finished fourth the first race and got a win there last year at Michigan. We are working hard on our cars, trying to get them better, but we still have a little work to do. Michigan is one of my favorite tracks; it’s a big fast place and has lots of room to race. We can get strung out a bit, but there is always something going on, someone is always catching someone else. There is always a lot of strategy going on. Fuel mileage and pit stops are very important. I’ve had a lot of success at Michigan in the past and I think this will be a good weekend for us.”

Puccia on Michigan:
“Hopefully after our performance in Pocono we can carry over some of the stuff we learned, even though they are very different there are some similarities to Michigan. Coming off a win in the second race at Michigan last year we know what it takes to find victory lane. Hopefully we can better our position by one spot this weekend in Michigan.”

- Roush Fenway Racing

Atlanta Motor Speedway Facts: Kobalt Tools 500 Odds & Ends

by Mike Forde
NASCAR Media Services

At Atlanta Motor Speedway:

History
* Originally called Atlanta International Raceway, the track was then a 1.5-mile paved speedway.
* The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta was on July 31, 1960, won by Fireball Roberts from the pole.
* The track was re-measured to 1.522 miles in the spring of 1970.
* It was renamed Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1990.
* The track layout was reversed and the track was re-configured to 1.54 miles between the two races in 1997.

Notebook
* There have been 101 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Atlanta Speedway, two races per year except 1961, which had three.
* Fireball Roberts won the pole and race for the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 1960.
* 44 drivers have won a pole, led by Buddy Baker and Ryan Newman, each with seven.
* Six of Newman’s seven poles came in consecutive races between March 2003 and October 2005.
* 42 drivers have won a race; 22 have won more than once, including Kurt Busch, who won the first race last season. In that event, Busch scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.
* Dale Earnhardt scored nine victories, more than any other driver. Cale Yarborough is second with seven.
* Bobby Labonte heads the list of active drivers with victories, with six. Labonte is tied with Richard Petty for third on the all-time win list at Atlanta.
* The Wood Brothers are the most productive car owners with 12 victories. They last won there in 1993 with Morgan Shepherd.
* 14 races have been won from the pole. The last to do so was Kasey Kahne in 2006. Both races last season were won from the second starting position.
* 58 races at Atlanta have been won from the first five starting positions.
* Bobby Labonte won the 2001 fall race from the 39th starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Atlanta.
* There have been seven season sweeps, most recently by Jimmie Johnson in 2007.

NASCAR in Georgia
* There have been 160 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Georgia.
* 169 NASCAR national series drivers all-time have their home state recorded as Georgia.
* There have been 14 race winners from Georgia in NASCAR’s three national series.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Data
Race # 4 of 36 (3-7-10)
Track Size: 1.54 miles
Race Length: 325 laps/500.5 miles
· Banking/Corners: 24 degrees
· Banking/Straights: 5 degrees
· Frontstretch: 2,332 feet
· Backstretch: 1,800 feet

Driver Rating at Atlanta
Jimmie Johnson 110.1
Carl Edwards 105.0
Jeff Gordon 102.2
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 99.8
Tony Stewart 98.6
Matt Kenseth 95.4
Greg Biffle 95.0
Kurt Busch 93.4
Denny Hamlin 93.2
Kyle Busch 90.3
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (10 total) at Atlanta.




Qualifying/Race Data
2009 pole winner: Mark Martin (187.045 mph, 29.640 secs.)
2009 race winner: Kurt Busch (127.573 mph, 3-8-09)
Track qualifying record: Geoffrey Bodine (197.478 mph, 28.074 secs., 11-15-97)
Race record: Dale Earnhardt (163.633 mph, 11-16-97)

Estimated Pit Window: Every 48-52 laps, based on fuel mileage.

Martin on Pole at Brickyard: Fourth Pole in 2009

by M Roberts

After being nearly four hours delayed, qualifying for Sunday’s All-State 400 at the Brickyard was case of all the youngsters not being able to catch the old man.

Mark Martin set the pace early in qualifying with a blistering lap of 49.44 seconds and joked on his headset to his team that he might have hit 49.00 flat if he weren’t so old. Martin won his fourth pole of the season and first ever at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Martin is one of only four drivers to race in all previous 15 NASCAR races run at the Brickyard. His best career finish was second in 1998 and has a total of nine top-10 finishes in the 15 races. His best start position previously was second which he did twice, once last season and the other back in 1996.

Starting on the front row outside of Martin will be Juan Pablo Montoya who came in with the second fastest lap of 49.78 seconds. The 2000 Indy 500 Champion had a spectacular first day of practice on Friday in both qualifying and race trim set-ups and was able to keep the momentum going in qualifying.

The most pleasant surprise of the day for many was finally seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr qualify well with the third best time of 49.84. Earnhardt Jr ran the fast lap in a brand new car, the first completely re-hauled chassis by his new crew chief Lance McGrew. Junior has been fighting stomach sickness for the last two days and there is a possibility that Brad Keselowski may have practice the car if he’s not feeling better, and possibly be ready for Sunday as a fill in driver.

Former Brickyard 400 winner, Bill Elliott qualified fourth and David Reutimann rounded out the top-5 with a strong lap to start fifth.

This seasons top pole winner, Brian Vickers will start sixth and he’ll be followed by two-time
Brickyard 400 winner and current points leader, Tony Stewart. Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson, and Clint Bowyer finish out the top-10 start positions.

Last seasons winner, and two-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson will start 16th, while his teammate and four time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon starts 22nd.

The two surprisingly poor qualifiers of the day were Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards who came in a with disappointing 40th and 41st best time. Edwards plainly said, “It’s bad, but optimistically added, “ luckily, we were faster than that in race trim yesterday“.

Final practice sessions are scheduled to begin shortly after qualifying which should be further telling in who will be the top contender to win on Sunday.