(Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)
Chase Elliott has certainly had a memorable start to the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Though he hasn’t dominated, Elliott has been one of the most consistent drivers in the field. Through 18 races, Elliott has two wins and 12 top 10s, tied for the most in both categories.
Most recently, Elliott finished second at Road America after winning at Nashville the week prior.
As the page turns to the second half of the season, Elliott heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for his hometown race as the series points leader. Elliott grew up an hour and a half north of the track in Dawsonville, Georgia, and treats Sunday’s race with more importance.
“I would love to win here. That would be one of the best things to do,” Elliott told the media on Saturday. “I’ve watched guys do that over the years and you can tell that means a lot to them. I think it would be very much the same.
“I would love to check that box here. That would be super special to me. Having two races here is even better than one because you have two weeks at home versus just one, so I’m all for it. We can race here five times, four times, six times, however much they want.
“It’s always nice to be around home. When you do have family and friends around to come down and hang out, I always enjoy that time with them and have them at an event. Not often you’re close enough to home where people can, so looking forward to that.”
Sunday’s race is the first time this season that NASCAR has returned to a track for a second race. In March, Elliott managed the chaos and scored a sixth-place finish at the newly reconfigured circuit.
Previously, Atlanta was a typical 1.5-mile track known for tire wear. Now, it’s a superspeedway-style track with drafting and three-wide action.
Of his 15 Cup Series wins, Elliott has just one on a superspeedway — Talladega in 2019. He has six top 10s between Talladega and Daytona, two similar race tracks.
“It’s just a mini-superspeedway now is really kind of what it is,” Elliott said. “You’re going to be running wide open. The track has a lot of grip. I think they fixed the bump thing there off of (turn) two that they had going on during the spring race, so that’s nice of them to do. I think everybody will appreciate that.”
(Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Unlike the spring race, Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Presented By Walmart will be hot and humid, which will change the conditions of the new surface.
“As it gets hotter, typically the track grip goes away,” Elliott said. “We’re going slower with this package and everything else…the sensitivity of the track is less noticeable until you’re further down the road, or you’re faster where you’re not just right on the edge of whatever that speed number is to have to lift.”
With eight races remaining in the regular season, Elliott holds a 33-point margin over Ryan Blaney in driver’s points. Thirteen different drivers have won a race this season and the playoff bubble is tight for both winners and non-winners.
Fortunately for Elliott, his two victories have safely clinched him a playoff spot. But, other winners could risk missing the playoffs if more than 16 drivers win a race.
“You only need a few more winners until you lock everyone in on wins. It’s a different deal than we’ve seen the past few years,” Elliott said. “There are guys that are beyond capable of winning one, two, three races that haven’t won yet that are certainly there too. It’s been an interesting year. Glad we’re on the winning side of it.”
After Atlanta, the Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway for a two-race northeast stretch. In seven full-time Cup seasons, Elliott is winless at both tracks.
“I think Loudon will be more like races up there in the past,” Elliott said. I think it’s going to be very difficult to pass. It always is when you go up there. It was one of the most difficult places to pass…I think it’s going to be even more so, which I think it will be very track position oriented, pit stops and restarts even more so. And probably as time goes on, it will continue to get more and more in that direction.”
Sunday’s race at Atlanta is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
