Will Chase Elliott follow in Dale Jr.’s footsteps again?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first Xfinity Series race in 1998 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Two years later, Earnhardt Jr. notched his first Cup win at Texas.

Chase Elliott is trying to follow in his footsteps. Elliott won his first Xfinity Series race at Texas two years ago, and is searching for his first Cup win in the Duck Commander 500 on Saturday night.

Elliott is starting fourth, the same starting spot Earnhardt Jr. had when he won the Cup race in 2000.

Elliott and Earnhardt are teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, and their similarities go further than that. Both are sons of NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers (Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Sr.).

Elliott, who replaced Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Chevrolet this year, would surely like to have another thing in common with Earnhardt after Saturday’s race.

“We want to be contenders and I think we have the team capable of doing that,” Elliott said. “For us, we recognize that having a good pit road selection is the biggest thing, starting good is nice, but I think that pit road selection is very important.

“Just because you start good doesn’t mean you are going to stay there. You have to work on your car in race trim to make it the best you can and hopefully try to move forward [Saturday] night.”

Elliott has yet to post a top-five finish in his first six races this season, but has the makings of being a future star. Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. have each praised his talent and promise.

This will be Elliott’s best starting spot since the season-opening Daytona 500 when he won the pole. TMS would welcome a strong race by Elliott, and add another first to its track history.

But nothing is given in this sport, as Elliott knows well.

“It’s nice to have a good starting spot,” Elliott said. “But the most important thing is to be good in the race.”

Crazy Carl on pole

Carl Edwards is feeling good about his chances to return to Victory Lane at TMS.

Edwards won the pole Friday and will lead the field for the Duck Commander 500.

Edwards has to be considered a heavy favorite, considering he became the first three-time winner at the track by taking the checkered flag in the 2008 fall race.

“My confidence level is pretty decent, but now it’s really up there,” said Edwards, who posted a qualifying lap of 27.748 seconds and 194.609 mph.

“To have a fast race car is huge. I like this place. … To me, it feels like it’s going to be fun.”

Edwards hasn’t won in 14 starts since the ’08 victory, although he has four top-five runs in that time.

The one other time he started on the pole — the 2013 fall race — Edwards had engine failure and finished 37th, the second-worst finish in his career at Texas.

But Edwards had a positive vibe Friday, saying the slicker track conditions fit him well and he fully expects to run well.

“This is fun, guys,” Edwards said. “Each time we went out there, even in qualifying trim when usually the car is just nailed down and stuck like glue, the car was sliding around. If I missed the corner a little bit, I could adjust and get the car to kind of turn where I wanted to, that’s really fun.”

Edwards, in his second season with Joe Gibbs Racing, has posted five top-10 runs in the first six races. He’d like to get an early season victory out of the way to lock in a spot for the Chase, too, as he’s solely focused on one thing at this point in his career.

“I have some very specific goals. I want to be a champion,” Edwards said.

Another win at Texas would put him in position to do that.

Slippery slope

Joey Logano may have described TMS’ slick track surface best, which could make for entertaining racing Saturday.

“It was like 10-15 laps on your tires was like ice skating with dull blades,” said Logano, who qualified second. “You’re slipping and sliding everywhere out there. That’s with 15-20 laps on your tires. Can you imagine when we get 40 laps in what it’s going to be like?

“I mean, it’s gonna be a lot of fun. It’s gonna be really interesting to see the way this race plays out.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Will Chase Elliott follow in Dale Jr.’s footsteps again?."