Chase Elliott earned a scrappy runner-up at Auto Club Speedway. (Photo: Michael Donohue | The Podium Finish)
FONTANA, Calif. – After a heartbreaking 38th place result in the Daytona 500, Chase Elliott turned to Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway for points and a better showing.
For starters, Elliott had to march his way from the deep in the field, 33rd, in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. More importantly, like his competitors, his first laps around the 2-mile superspeedway would be in the 200-lap race.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion bided his time, snatching a 10th place result in Stage 1 before advancing to seventh in Stage 2.
Undoubtedly, Elliott did not have the fastest car in the field of 36. In fact, the 26-year-old Dawsonville, Georgian turned to the guidance of crew chief Alan Gustafson for improvements with each pit stop.
In the final stage, the five-time NMPA Most Popular Driver of the Year made some noise, driving inside the top five during the final 40 laps.
Elliott clawed his way from the 33rd starting position. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
While Elliott did not have the pace to catch Kyle Busch, the race winner, he had enough in his No. 9 Camaro to scoot past Ross Chastain for the second spot on Lap 179.
Although drivers may not like finishing second, Elliott sang his praises for his hardy team, earning his first top five result since his victory last fall at Talladega.
“Just really proud of our team,” Elliott said. “We obviously didn’t run very good there toward the end of the year last year, and everybody really went to work hard over the winter to try and get better. Appreciate everybody on our NAPA team for just sticking with it and sticking with each other.”
Make no mistake that Elliott would like to extract more out of his No. 9 Camaro to contend against the resurgent Richard Childress Racing and ECR alliance.
“Obviously, I think we still have some work to do, but it was really nice to just see a lot of that hard work pay off and have the car driving like we were wanting it to do,” he said. “So that’s always a good thing. Appreciate everybody’s effort; everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet.”
In time, Elliott and his Hendrick teammates, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron, will be in the mix as the season progress.
For the interim, Elliott tipped his cap to Busch, particularly as the two-time Cup champion resumes his NASCAR efforts with the Chevrolet banner.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion sang his praises for Kyle Busch. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
“Congratulations to Kyle (Busch),” he said. “For him to leave and then to go get the job done like that is pretty cool. He’s always been really good to me, so happy for them and looking forward to getting to Vegas and hopefully competing for some more wins.”
Elliott looks ahead to next Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as he pursues his first victory at the 1.5-mile speedway.
