Sprint Cup rookie Chase Elliott looks to build on solid Texas finish
The No. 24 car just kept climbing the leader board Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway. It started in 40th, the back of the pack, where driver Chase Elliott had to begin after a transmission change.
Twenty laps later, it had climbed to 24th. By lap 100, it was in 11th and by lap 120, 10th. For one lap, it was at No. 1.
The 24 finished in fifth in the Duck Commander 500, Chase Elliott’s first career top-five finish in the Sprint Cup Series.
“It was a solid night,” said Elliott, son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott. “Obviously I hated to have to start in the back, but I think having a good qualifying effort allowed us to get good pit selection. I think that helped us try to gain spots throughout the night, but the biggest thing was just having a good car. I was really happy with it.”
It was an impressive performance for the rookie, but not necessarily surprising.
We know we have some work to do, and we’d like to be contenders.
Chase Elliott
Before being sent to the back of the field, Elliott qualified fourth. The night before, he’d finished fourth in the Xfinity Series race.
Elliott, 20, leads the Sprint Cup rookie standings with 87 points, 13 more than Ryan Blaney in second. He’s 14th in the driver standings with four top-10s in seven starts, and he won the pole at the Daytona 500.
“My guys have been bringing such fast race cars to the race track every week since Daytona,” Elliott said after finishing eighth at Phoenix in March.
At Texas, Elliott, who became driver of the No. 24 car after Jeff Gordon’s retirement, was surrounded by his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates in the top 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Kasey Kahne eighth.
“It was great to see Chase up there,” Earnhardt said. “I got to race with him a little bit, and his car was doing some great things, and he was driving a really good line.”
Don’t think Elliott and his team are content with the success they’ve had so far. They want more. It showed in an aggressive pit strategy toward the end of the race in Texas.
During the next-to-last caution on Lap 289, Elliott got just two tires while most took on four. It got him up to second when the next caution came out at Lap 295. During that caution, Crew Chief Alan Gustafson brought Elliott in for four fresh tires with sights set on catching the leader in the final 32 laps.
But there was no catching Kyle Busch, who ran away from the field on the final restart.
“It was just Alan’s decision to come back, and it was a quick decision. He didn’t have a lot of time,” Elliott said. “Those crew chiefs are put in a position, they’ve got to make a call in a hurry. … I respect them for what they do because that’s [a] tough, tough spot to be in, but as I’ve said, we’re a team. I’m going to support his decision, right, wrong or indifferent, so I was happy we did it and we tried to make the most of it.”
Up next is Bristol where Elliott finished in the top 10 of both Xfinity races last season.
“Definitely still have some work to do on my end, and we’ll keep digging at it,” Elliott said. “We’re definitely not content. … We’d like to be contenders. So we’re going to keep working at it.”
On the grid
Food City 500
Noon Sunday, Bristol, Tenn.
Track: Bristol Motor Speedway, a 5.33-mile, high-banked concrete oval.
Distance: 500 laps/266.5 miles.
TV: KDFW/4, Race. (Friday, 10 a.m. practice; 3:15 p.m. qualifying, FS1; Saturday: 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. practices, FS1)
Last year’s winner: Matt Kenseth.
Other races
Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300: Xfinity Series, Bristol Motor Speedway, 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Fox Sports 1.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach: IndyCar, Long Beach, Calif. 3 p.m. Sunday, NBC Sports Network.
Chinese Grand Prix: Formula One, Shanghai, 12:30 p.m., Sunday, NBC Sports Network.
Worth mentioning: Kyle Busch goes for his fifth consecutive national series victory (won Truck-Cup doubleheader at Martinsville; Xfinity-Cup doubleheader at Texas); Joey Logano won last spring’s Xfinity race at Bristol.
David Scott’s Power 16
1. Kyle Busch (2nd last week): He’s winning in every kind of equipment these days.
2. Jimmie Johnson (1): Having strong year, just not as strong as Busch.
3. Carl Edwards (4): Texas pole-winner was fast all race, but couldn’t hold off Busch.
4. Kevin Harvick (3): Just one finish outside the top-10 (Martinsville).
5. Joey Logano (6): Strong third at Texas, where he started second.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (8): Two runners-up finishes … he’s ready to win.
7. Denny Hamlin (7): Hard to figure Hamlin this season, have been consistently inconsistent.
8. Brad Keselowski (5): Tough luck with loose tire at Texas dropped him out of contention.
9. Austin Dillon (9): Might have have had a top-10 car at Texas until crash late in the race.
10. Martin Truex Jr. (12): One of faster cars at Texas, but couldn’t hang with Busch.
11. Kurt Busch (11); 12. Chase Elliott (NR); 13. Matt Kenseth (14); 14. Kyle Larson (15); 15. AJ Allmendinger (10); 16. Ryan Newman (13).
This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Sprint Cup rookie Chase Elliott looks to build on solid Texas finish."