chase elliott Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a trip out to America’s Heartland, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back east this weekend and straight to the final short track race of the season, with Sunday’s running of the First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway. A mainstay on the schedule since 1949, the historic half-mile, which is also the smallest on the circuit, will test both man and machine over 500 grueling laps. Sunday’s race will mark the start of the three-race playoff semi-finals that will trim the eight driverRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer You may ask yourself how can a driver fly under the radar in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series elimination race? Chase Elliott found out by never being a factor for the win at Kansas Speedway. Elliott finished inside the top-five after funning just inside the top-10 throughout the Hollywood Casino 400. He avoided trouble, staying ahead of a multi-car pile-up in his No. 24 Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet SS. Elliott narrowly missed being clipped by Erik Jones, whose No. 77 5-Hour Energy Toyota CamryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Martin Truex Jr. survived a restart penalty and an unscheduled pit stop to return to what has become a thoroughly familiar locale—Victory Lane—in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. In a dramatic race that brought Truex his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, calamity eliminated four drivers from the series Playoff. Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson all saw their postseason hopes end with the final event in the Round of 12.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In his final start at Talladega Superspeedway, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will start exactly where he intends on finishing Sunday’s race – in first. Talladega has served as Earnhardt’s most successful track, with six wins, but in all of the accolades he has gotten over the years at Talladega, he had never won a pole on the 2.66-mile track, but that all changed on Friday afternoon. With wild applause from the fans in the stands, Earnhardt was the fastest in the first round of qualifying andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Heading into Talladega, Chase Elliott has found himself among the most consistent drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, with the 21-year old driver for Hendrick Motorsports sitting fourth in points and on the cusp of winning his first Cup Series race. Throughout the season, Elliott has been among the fastest of his teammates, despite not yet finding his way to victory lane. Finishing as a runner-up four times this season and three times in the last four races, there is no doubtRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Talladega may not be the Round of 12 elimination race any longer, but the mammoth 2.66 mile superspeedway is still a huge wild card and will go a long way toward determining which drivers will be in position to move on to the next round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Racing at Talladega has always been crazy from the time the track opened back in 1969. From the driver boycott of the first race that led to unknown driver Richard Brickhouse scoringRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Each week NASCAR Editor David Morgan will break down who’s hot and who’s not after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. Today, we break down the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. WINNERS Martin Truex, Jr. – The wins just keep on coming for Truex and Furniture Row Racing. 2017 has been a career year for the No. 78 team and Truex added another victory to the win column on Sunday at Charlotte. Truex may not have had the best qualifyingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – The only thing typical about Martin Truex Jr.’s performance at Charlotte Motor Speedway was the win. The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team screwed up in qualifying on Friday—a rare occurrence in a remarkable season for the series leader. Truex failed to score points in the first stage of Sunday’s Bank of America 500, the first race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff’s Round of 12. That marked the first time since Daytona in July that Truex had finished outsideRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CONCORD, N.C. – For the second week in a row Chase Elliott has come one spot shy of scoring his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Elliott was never far from the lead throughout the Bank of America 500. Elliott was consistently one of the best cars, in the No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS, during the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He battled with the likes of Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, and eventual race winner Martin Truex, Jr. while never falling lower than fifthRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. – What is in a number? For one driver, namely Chase Elliott, a return to a familiar car and number could mean success. Recently, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Elliott would shift from the No. 24 to the newly rebranded No. 9 starting with the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. The No. 9 is synonymous with the Elliott name. Chase’s Hall of Fame father, Bill Elliott, earned 38 of his 44 career victories in the No. 9 car. Bill Elliott also wonRead More