Chase Elliott Phoenix International Raceway Preview

SUNENERGY1: The penultimate race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season is the final primary scheme for SunEnergy1 on board Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS. SunEnergy1 has been on the hood of the No. 24 Chevy at Daytona in July, Watkins Glen in Aug. and Kansas in Oct. The rookie earned his second top-10 finish of the year at the Avondale, Arizona, raceway finishing eighth there earlier this spring improving his starting position by nine spots.

GOING HOME: John Gianninoto – No. 24 jackman — will compete this weekend in front of friends and family at his home track of Phoenix International Raceway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Gianninoto grew up in Tucson, Arizona, graduating with honors from Catalina Foothills High School. He went on to play as an offensive lineman for UNLV, signing in 2006, earning his first letter in 2007 and becoming a captain of the team in 2010. Gianninoto participated in the NFL’s Carolina Panthers’ training camp in 2012 before signing with Hendrick Motorsports in September 2012.

STRONG RESULTS IN THE LONE STAR STATE: This past weekend at Texas, while the No. 24 team didn’t take home a win, they still took home an impressive fourth-place result among other awards. Elliott was once again named the Sunoco Rookie of the Race extending his lead in the yearly standings. No. 24 crew chief Alan Gustafson also earned an award claiming his fifth MOOG Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of the Race title of the season moving him into the lead ahead of the Nos. 20 and 41 crew chiefs with just two races remaining in the season.

REIGNING ROOKIE: Elliott leads the 2016 Rookie of the Year contender standings heading into Phoenix International Raceway by 68 points over second-place Ryan Blaney and 97 points over third-place Chris Buescher. Elliott has accumulated a total of 295 rookie points this year through the first 34 races. He has yet to win his first race, but claims 10 top-five showings – the most by a rookie since Carl Edwards scored 13 in 2005.

MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE: With Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway in the midst of a rain delay, the No. 24 team found a unique way to pass the time. All four crews tried their hand at the newest social media trend — the #MannequinChallenge.

When your race is delayed so you decide to crush the #MannequinChallenge. (via @teamhendrick/Twitter)

A video posted by espn (@espn) on Nov 6, 2016 at 6:45pm PST

MPD: Voting for the 2016 National Motorsports Press Association Sprint Most Popular Driver is in full swing. Since the award’s inception in 1953, 19 different NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers have been crowned NMPA Sprint Most Popular Driver including Elliott’s father Bill Elliott who earned the award 16 times. Elliott has been ranked in the top 10 for the 2016 class. Voting ends at 11:59 PM EST on Nov. 20, 2016. The name of the driver receiving the most votes will be posted Dec. 4, 2016. Click the link to cast your daily vote for the 2016 Most Popular Driver: http://www.nascar.com/sprintmostpopulardriver

Driver Quotes | Chase Elliott

“I felt like it was a solid race for us in the spring. We had a good car and got a decent finish.  We’d made gains throughout the race and I think that we can take a lot of that back this weekend. The guys did a great job in Texas. I think we’re just going to Phoenix to try and have the best day that we can and get a finish that these guys deserve.”

NASCAR Phoenix International Raceway TV Schedule (all times ET)

Friday, November 11
6:30 pm – Sprint Cup Qualifying on NBCSN

Saturday, November 12
3:00 pm – Sprint Cup Practice on NBCSN
6:00 pm – Sprint Cup Final Practice on NBCSN

Sunday, November 13
2:30 pm – Sprint Cup Race on NBC

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Chase Elliott: @ChaseElliott
Hendrick Motorsports: @TeamHendrick
No. 24 Team: @Hendrick24Team