Another Test for NAPA and Chase Elliott in New Territory
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 30, 2014) – One thing is for sure, Chase Elliott and his No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS team have taken the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series season by storm. The 18-year-old rookie has been on a tear since the drop of the green flag at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 22.
Elliott is coming off an enormous momentum swing after dealing with adversity last week when he was involved in a fender-bender on lap 39 at Dover International Speedway. Lapped cars directly in front of Elliott wrecked, leaving the rookie driver no way to avoid them and causing damage to the left-front bumper of the NAPA Chevrolet. It was enough to bring Elliott to pit road twice for damage repair under caution.
Being relegated to 24th position for a lap-47 restart was not a task too tough for Elliott and crew. With a slightly battered and bruised NAPA Chevrolet, Elliott worked his way through the field with relative ease, cracking the top five again by lap 90. From there, Elliott turned what appeared to be a potentially disappointing day in to a third-place finish and increased his points’ lead to 26 over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith.
This weekend, Elliott and his championship-leading NAPA KNOW HOW team travel to Kansas Speedway and unfamiliar territory for the rookie driver. Kansas Speedway – a 1.5-mile tri-oval – is another track Elliott has never seen from inside a race car before. That has yet to slow him down this season, as the Dawsonville, Ga. native has won three times at tracks he’d previously never driven (Texas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, and Chicagoland Speedway).
With five races to go in the season, Elliott also leads Ty Dillon by 55 points in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings.
Television coverage of the Kansas Lottery 300 is scheduled to begin Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR will begin race coverage at 3 p.m. ET.
Driver Quotes | Chase Elliott
On Kansas Speedway:
“It has been quite a while since we went to a new track. It’s the first new track for my NAPA AUTO PARTS team in the past few weeks. Atlanta, back in late-August, was the last time we raced a new track. I’m sure it’ll be a challenging track and we’re looking forward to that. From what I’ve seen at Kansas Speedway, it certainly puts on a great show for the fans, so I hope we are able to provide excitement come Saturday. This team is relentless and we’re proud of that. We have five races left with a goal in sight and we’re not stopping until we achieve what we set out to do.”
MEDIA INFORMATION
TV: ESPN2 (3:30 pm ET)
RADIO: MRN & Sirius XM Ch. 90 (3 p.m. ET)
FIRST PRACTICE: 10/3, Noon-12:50 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1)
FINAL PRACTICE: 10/3, 4-5:20 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
QUALIFYING: 10/4, 12:15 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 2)
GREEN FLAG: 10/4, 3:30 pm ET (ESPN2)
Kansas/Maple Grove TV Listings
Friday, October 3
12:00 PM NASCAR Nationwide Series Practice FOX Sports 1
1:00 PM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice FOX Sports 1
4:00 PM NASCAR Nationwide Series Final Practice ESPN2
5:45 PM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying ESPN2
Saturday, October 4
11:00 AM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice FOX Sports 1
12:15 PM NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying FOX Sports 2
2:00 PM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Final Practice FOX Sports 2
3:30 PM NASCAR Nationwide Series Race ESPN2
Sunday, October 5
2:00 PM NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race ESPN
4:00 PM NHRA Maple Grove Qualifying (replay) ESPN2
8:00 PM NHRA Maple Grove Final Eliminations (tape delayed) ESPN2
*All Times Eastern Standard, Please Check Your Local TV Listings*
2014 NATIONWIDE SERIES DRIVER POINTS
1. Chase Elliott…………….. 1,034
2. Regan Smith…………….. -26
3. Ty Dillon…………….. -46
4. Brian Scott…………….. -59
5. Elliott Sadler…………….. -64
2014 SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR POINTS
1. Chase Elliott…………….. 306
2. Ty Dillon……………… -55
3. Chris Buescher…………….. -88
4. Dylan Kwasniewski…………….. -150
5. Ryan Reed…………….. -154
NAPA:@theNAPAnetwork & @NAPARacing
CHASE ELLIOTT:@ChaseElliott
ELLIOT MABE:@ElliotMabe9
JR MOTORSPORTS: @JRMotorsports