Elliott Earns Top-Five Finish at Richmond

• Chase Elliott and the No. 9 UniFirst team qualified 13th for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.
• He advanced to ninth to end the first stage and followed that up with a seventh-place finish in stage two.
• Elliott spent most of the final stage inside the top 10, ultimately taking the checkered flag in fifth.
• With his top-five finish, Elliott improved to sixth in the points standings and locked himself into The Chase.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 UniFirst team qualified 13th for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. In the first stage, Elliott was running 12th when he relayed that his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet turned way better to start than he thought it would. Soon after, green-flag pit stops got underway. Elliott visited pit road on lap 33 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He returned to the track in 24th and made his way into the top 10 prior to the end of the stage, taking the green-and-white checkered flag in ninth on lap 70.

Under the stage-ending caution, Elliott reported that his turn was really sharp and that he expected it to get worse as the race went on. Crew chief Alan Gustafson opted for another air pressure adjustment during the team’s pit stop for four tires and fuel. Elliott took the green flag for stage two from 10th on lap 80, but lost momentum and dropped to 14th. Over the course of the run, the 30-year-old driver began making headway, improving to 12th just as green-flag pit stops were getting started. Elliott remained on the track and was running in seventh when an incident slowed the race on lap 125. The team made a pit stop for four fresh tires and fuel. Elliott restarted seventh on lap 133 and was up to sixth on lap 164. He visited pit road for fuel and four tires on lap 180. Following the stop, Elliott advanced to fourth on lap 189 before ultimately ending the stage in seventh.

Elliott brought the No. 9 UniFirst Chevy to the attention of his crew for four tires and fuel. He started the final stage from seventh and held strong inside the top 10, maneuvering to fifth on lap 275. Elliott came to pit road on lap 281 for fuel and a fresh set of tires. Just a few laps later, a stalled vehicle brought out the caution, changing up the strategy for some. The No. 9 team opted not to pit under the yellow, and Elliott restarted fifth on lap 293. He continued to race inside the top 10 and came to pit road on lap 327 for a scheduled stop for service. He returned to the track in 10th and was back inside the top five on lap 342. He visited pit road for his final stop of the night on lap 363. From there, he battled hard to solidify a top-10 finish for his team, coming home with a fifth-place finish.

“I thought we were kind of hovering around seventh and eighth, somewhere in there,” Elliott said after the race. “And then, obviously most of the field committed to three-stopping the last stage up until that caution. We elected to stay out and I know a few guys chose to pit there, put on some scuffs, and maybe burn a set of stickers. It ended up working out pretty well for us. Obviously, it’s not a win, but for how things have been going the last few months, it feels nice to just have a really solid night and hopefully we can get things rolling in the right direction. There’s been a lot of hard work put in across the board; everyone on this No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet team and Hendrick Motorsports. I appreciate that effort. Everyone shows up with it each week, even after a bad day, so hopefully we can get things rolling here.”

Start / Finish: 13 / 5
Points Standing / Total: 6th / 695 pts. (-274)

Next Race: Sunday, August 23, New Hampshire Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 3:00 p.m. ET on USA, SiriusXM or PRN

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