Monday, October 4, 2010

Chase Elliott wins Blizzard title

Chase Elliott’s “Rubber & Specialties 100” Victory Leads to Blizzard Series and Sunoco Gulf Coast Championships 14-Year-Old Sensation Sweeps Championships Between Pensacola and Mobile PENSACOLA, FL (September 27, 2010) – A popular song from the 1960’s by the rock band “The Who” proclaimed “The Kids are Alright.” At Pensacola, Florida’s Five Flags Speedway for the past two seasons, the kids have been more than just alright, as for the second year in a row, a teenager bested some of the country’s best and most credentialed Super Late Model drivers to earn the Blizzard Series Championship. Fourteen-year-old Chase Elliott clinched the 2010 Blizzard Series title in commanding fashion by winning Friday night’s “Rubber & Specialties 100” at Five Flags for his second victory in the five-race series. Elliott broke the record of the youngest Blizzard Series Champion, set in 2009 by then-17-year-old Johanna Long. Elliott took the lead on lap 63 from T.J. Read, who dominated the first portion of the race before falling back after the lap-51 competition caution, and then checked out from the rest of the field over the last stretch of the 100-lap feature to become the sixth different Blizzard Series Champion since 2004. “It feels great just to be a part of all the drivers who have won down here,” said Elliott. “For everybody’s hard work to pay off, I’m proud.” The son of former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Bill Elliott, Chase Elliott set fast time in qualifying earlier in the day at Five Flags, but had to start sixth after an invert of the top-six spots. That put Kyle Busch Motorsports driver T.J. Reaid on the pole with Oklahoma driver Donnie Wilson on the outside. Reaid used his pole starting position to pull out to a commanding lead for the first half of the race, leading up to the five-minute competition caution at lap 51. Reaid led Wilson and Elliott onto pit road at halfway, but that is where the complexion of the race changed for good. Elliott’s team made the proper changes to make the number-9 Ford even better in the second half, while Reaid’s dominant effort only lasted a few laps past the halfway pit stop. Elliott rocketed by Wilson and then Reaid with 37 laps remaining to earn the victory in the Rubber & Specialties 100. “We needed to be better from that first half,” said Elliott. “I just didn’t want to do something wrong in that first half and drive in and turn someone or cost us the race. I was just driving cautious to be there at the end of the race.” While Elliott’s patience and adjustments worked to his advantage, Reaid’s luck wasn’t quite the same as he finished second to Elliott. “The second 50, we made a change that we thought was going to help with forward bite, but it ended up hurting the center (of the turn),” said Reaid. “It’s just one of those things, you live and you learn. We finished fourth last time, second this time, so we’re obviously gaining. I feel like we can come back for the Snowball Derby with a little cooler track conditions and different track conditions and we’ll be alright.” Donnie Wilson finished third, while 2008 Blizzard Series Champion Josh Hamner was fourth and Texan Casey Smith was fifth in the “Rubber & Specialties 100.” Elliott backed up Friday night’s win at Five Flags with an eighth-place finish in the Miller Lite Series Super Late Model event at Mobile International Speedway in Alabama on Saturday, clinching both the Mobile track title and the 2010 Sunoco Gulf Coast Championship, which combines points between the two nearby racetracks throughout the 10 races scheduled at both facilities. Long was the 2009 champion of the Gulf Coast Championship and her record as the youngest title there was also broken by Dawsonville, Georgia’s Elliott. Elliott and the rest of the Blizzard Series competitors now set their focus on the 43rd Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags, where they will be joined by some of the top racers in the country for short track racing’s most prestigious event, December 1st through 5th. By earning the Blizzard Series title, Elliott now has a guaranteed starting spot in the 300-lap event. Five Flags Speedway will return to action on October 8th for the “Allen Turner Tune-Up” Pro Late Model Championship event. Daren “D.J.” Vanderley will be looking to clinch the 2010 Pro Late Model track championship, while the Sportsmen and Bomber divisions will also be in action. For more information about Five Flags Speedway or the 43rd Annual Snowball Derby, please visit www.5flagsspeedway.com or contact the track by calling (850) 944-8400.

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