Chase Elliott 2nd at Lanier GAS, 15th at Winchester CRA
Chase Elliott Defends GAS Lead at Lanier, Gains Experience in CRA at Winchester
Contact: Amy Umlor, amy@chaseelliott.com
DAWSONVILLE, Ga. (September 8, 2009) – While many Americans enjoyed a break over Labor Day weekend, 13-year-old Chase Elliott raced at two different tracks in two different states as he continues his impressive rookie campaign in the No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine Late Model.
On Saturday, Elliott defended his lead in the Georgia Asphalt Series (GAS) at his home track, Lanier National Speedway (Braselton, Ga.). After starting fifth, Elliott worked his way through traffic with no help from cautions as the race went green for all 100 laps. Elliott recorded a second-place finish, his fourth consecutive top-three in the GAS series where he has earned an average finish of 3.56 this season. With two races left on the 2009 GAS schedule, Elliott leads Bill Elliott Racing teammate Casey Roderick by 15 points in the season standings.
“A hundred laps seem like a long time, but when they’re all green, it goes by fast,” Elliott said. “Track position is key here, and Casey (Roderick) had the advantage by starting up front. A better qualifying effort would help, we just need to figure that part out. I really feel like we’ve been the car to beat the last three races here, we have just started too far back to get to the front in time. But with two races left, we’re leading the points, so we’ll just keep running consistently and hopefully bring home that championship from Nashville next month.”
Elliott flew to the high-banked, half-mile Winchester (Ind.) Speedway early Sunday morning to participate in practice and qualifying for the Champion Racing Association (CRA) Super Series McGunegill Engine Performance 100 on Labor Day. After starting 12th, Elliott rain as high as ninth as he battled the track’s high banks. The team made several pit stops for adjustments throughout the 100-lap race and ultimately finished 15th in a strong 24-car field in Elliott’s first start at the legendary track.
“Winchester is one of those tracks that you hear stories about being tough and fast, and we definitely got a taste of that today,” Elliott said. “We had trouble with the handling, causing the car to lose grip on the rear tires, so we had to make a lot of pit stops to try to correct it. This is one of the driver development cars that Mitch Cobb raced last year, and it’s the first time it’s been on the track since it was wrecked. After seeing how it responds to the track, my crew chief Ricky Turner thinks we need to go back and work on the rear end housing before we bring it out again. It was definitely a challenge today, but we still got a strong 15th place finish in a tough field here. And we did exactly what we came to do, make some laps and get some experience at this legendary track. I really had a great time here this weekend; it’s a fast track and a lot of fun to race on. I’m looking forward to coming back here for the Winchester 400 next month.”
At Lanier, Elliott qualified with a 13.955-second lap to place him fifth on the starting grid after only the top-three were inverted. Elliott settled into sixth behind Bubba Pollard’s red No. 18 before taking fifth from him on lap 14. By lap 18, Elliott caught the rear bumper of fast qualifier Shane Sawyer and the two worked their way around Chris Whorton on lap 25 to move Elliott into fourth.
On lap 40, Elliott pressured Russell Fleeman as the two raced side-by-side for two laps before Elliott cleared the No. 98 to take over third place on lap 42. On lap 71, Elliott put the pressure on Sawyer, looking to the outside before crossing back over to the inside to make the pass on lap 72 for second position.
From there, Elliott maneuvered through lapped traffic and kept his sights set on teammate Roderick out front. Unfortunately for Elliott, the race offered no advantage from cautions to bunch the field up, and the young driver ran out of time before he could catch the No. 19.
One day and 600 miles later, Elliott hit the track at Winchester Speedway for practice and qualifying. Attempting to qualify for his first start at the tough track, Elliott circled the half-mile in 15.633 seconds, only three-tenths off the pole winning lap of 13.308 seconds by John VanDoorn, and fast enough to put Elliott 12th in the 24-car starting line-up.
The No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine Super Late Model started out loose from the drop of the green flag as Elliott worked the rear tires. After slipping a couple positions on the track, Elliott ducked into the pits during the second caution on lap 39 for adjustments. After restarting at the rear of the field, the car was better and Elliott worked his way up to near 15th but still needed work on the Dream Machine, so Elliott pitted under caution again on lap 45.
Elliott made his way back up to 11th but the car slowly got worse as the laps ticked off. On lap 79, Turner called Elliott into the pits and found that there was absolutely no tread left on the rear tires. Spotter and dad Bill Elliott suggested they swap the front and rear tires to give Elliott as much grip as possible for the final laps. Turner sent Elliott back out onto the track to just gain experience during the final 21 laps. Despite the challenges, the team brought home a solid 15th-place finish in a strong 24-car field.
Monday’s 100-lap race was only Elliott’s fourth Super Late Model series start and second in the CRA Super Series. Elliott has one win in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South division at North Carolina’s historic Hickory Motor Speedway.
Next weekend, Elliott heads back to Lanier National Speedway for the James Garrison Memorial, a special event co-promoted by the Georgia Asphalt Series and the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour. The 100-lap, $5,000-to-win race is a non-points race for both series. For more information, please visit www.LanierSpeedway.com.
For the most up-to-date Chase Elliott news, including his racing schedule and weekly podcast, please visit www.ChaseElliott.com.
Be sure to vote for Chase Elliott in the 2009 Late Model Most Popular Driver Award presented by Aluminum Racing Products. You can vote daily now through December 6th by following the link at www.ChaseElliott.com.
Georgia Asphalt Series/Super Six 100 (Official Results) Lanier National Speedway Georgia Asphalt Series September 5, 2009
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