Elliott Earns Hard-Fought 11th-Place Finish at Dover

• After Saturday’s qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway was canceled due to weather, the starting lineup for the weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race was set according to the rule book. 
• Torrential rains forced NASCAR to postpone Sunday’s Cup Series race to Monday afternoon. Chase Elliott rolled off the grid from the 10th position in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
• Elliott battled a loose-handling Chevrolet throughout the majority of the 400-lap race despite the team’s best efforts to alleviate the condition. Still, a ninth-place finish in the second stage of the race earned him two stage points. He ultimately ended the race in 11th. 
• The Dawsonville, Georgia, native gained two positions in the Cup Series driver standings and is now 29th in points following his third race back since recovering from a fractured tibia.
• Elliott has now finished inside the top 12 every week since his return to the No. 9 Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway in April.

After Saturday’s qualifying session was canceled and torrential rains forced Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway to be postponed, Chase Elliott rolled off the grid from the 10th position on Monday afternoon. At the drop of the green flag, he continued to race inside the top 10 until he fell back to 12th on lap eight. The 27-year-old driver was scored in 13th when the competition caution came out on lap 20. He relayed to his NAPA Auto Parts team that his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was free on landing. Crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit road for four tires, fuel and an adjustment. Elliott was the ninth driver to choose his lane and took the outside for the lap 27 restart. Before the field could complete a lap, an incident brought out the yellow flag. 

Following the next restart, another caution flag waved before a longer green-flag run finally ensued. Elliott raced inside the top 15 and relayed that his Chevrolet was still too edgy. The team radioed that they had a plan for the next pit stop to try to help tighten up the No. 9. When a caution came out on lap 82 for a multi-car incident, Elliott was scored in the 11th position. He brought the NAPA Chevrolet to pit road for four tires, fuel and an adjustment that made for a longer pit stop. Elliott restarted 20th and advanced to 17th before the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end stage one on lap 120. 

During the stage break, Elliott reported that his Chevrolet was starting to come to him during the last run, but that he needed better track position. After a fast pit stop for four tires and fuel by the No. 9 crew, Elliott lined up 11th for the start of stage two on lap 129. He powered his way to eighth by lap 179 and was scored in ninth when green-flag pit stops ensued on lap 187. Just a few laps later, Gustafson called Elliott to pit road for four tires and fuel. By lap 199 he was back up to 10th and battled his way up to seventh before ending the caution-free second stage in ninth. 

Elliott radioed that he didn’t have any comfort that run, so the team made another adjustment during its pit stop for fresh tires and fuel. Firing off from 11th for the final stage, Elliott re-entered the top 10 for a few laps before dropping back to 11th on lap 262. He was running in 12th when green-flag stops got underway on lap 324. After reporting that his Chevrolet was still free, Elliott made his way to pit road on lap 328 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Once stops cycled through, Elliott was 12th on the leaderboard. He went a lap down before a caution came out with just 13 laps to go in the race. The team opted to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap. Elliott battled hard in the final laps, working his way up to 10th before ultimately taking the checkered flag in the 11th position.

Start / Finish: 10 / 11
Points Standing / Total: 29th / 148 pts. (-222)

Next Race: Sunday, May 7, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas
How to Watch or Listen: 3:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Chase Elliott: @ChaseElliott
Hendrick Motorsports: @TeamHendrick
No. 9 Team: @Hendrick9Team