Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
After wrecking out early in the Daytona 500, it was no secret that Chase Elliott was hoping to have a better run at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He was able to do just that, scoring an eighth place finish. The run marked a special finish for the Dawsonville, Georgia native racing in front of the home track crowd.
“It’s definitely special to be here at Atlanta and have a strong run,” he said. “I’m very happy about that, and definitely a very special feeling to walk out before the race and to see the support in the stands of a lot of people that are close to — this is close to home for me and a lot of people around here supporting our race team, so that was really cool.
The weekend didn’t start off strongly, as qualifying didn’t go well on Friday at Atlanta, with Elliott starting the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 in the 25th position. He stated that the starting spot wasn’t what he was hoping for as it started them in “a hole there to start and didn’t give us the best pit road selection”. Though from the drop of the green flag, he consistently moving forward towards the front of the field, gaining positions each run.
The race had its challenges along the way, as the 20-year-old had to manage his tires, while making sure to not lose any ground in the first 210 laps caution-run. Battling a car that wanted to slide around all day like his competitors, Elliott commented post-race at Atlanta that he was wore out and would be in bed early.
“It was the longest green-flag run I’ve ever been a part of, so that being said, this is a slick racetrack and a lot of things going on,” he said. “It’s very important to hit your marks correctly, so I’d definitely say it’s up there on one of the tougher races I’ve ever been a part of for sure.”
Though even with the success, the rookie was quickly able to point out things that he could improve on moving forward as he learns more during the season.
“I made a lot of dumb mistakes these past two weeks, and I was just happy that we could finish,” he said. “But like I said, a lot of room for improvement. I need to do a better job, lost a lot of time in a lot of different aspects today, so you’ve got to look at that stuff and see where you can get better and look as it as a day to try to improve on.”
Elliott looks to carry the momentum forward to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, which has produced two top-fives in his previous two XFINITY Series start; this will mark his first Sprint Cup Series start there.
“We’re excited to try to get on to Vegas and most of all just take what we had today and try to improve on it,” he said. “I think we’re working hard, and hopefully we can get in the right direction.”
