Elliott Finishes Third at Sonoma

• Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team qualified 13th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway.
• The 29-year-old driver finished stage one in 10th and stage two in 11th before taking the checkered flag in the third position. It was his third consecutive top-five finish on the 1.99-mile road course.
• Elliott remains second in the regular season points standings, just 14 markers behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. He is the only driver to finish in the top 20 in every race so far this season.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team qualified 13th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway. The 29-year-old driver steadily gained ground throughout stage one. He broke into the top 10 on lap 13 and radioed shortly after that his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet’s balance was good. Elliott improved to ninth on lap 20 before heading to pit road on lap 22. He returned to the track and managed to drive up to 10th before stage one concluded at lap 25.

Staying out during the stage break, Elliott lined up sixth for the start of stage two on lap 30. He advanced to fifth before he went off the course in turn two, slipping to eighth on lap 32. He made the pass for seventh on lap 45 and remained there until visiting pit road for four fresh tires and fuel on lap 52. When the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end stage two just three laps later, Elliott was scored 11th.

Remaining on track during the stage ending caution, Elliott took the green flag for the final stage in sixth on lap 60. He gained one position before the yellow flag was displayed on lap 62 due to an on-track incident. Staying out, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native restarted fifth and powered to fourth in a hurry. He reported that his NAPA Chevy’s handling was better prior to making the pass for third on lap 79. Elliott brought his Chevrolet to the attention of his crew for four tires and fuel on lap 82. He rejoined the field in 19th and was back up to third by lap 93. Just a few laps later, a caution came out for debris. Crew chief Alan Gustafson made the call for Elliott to come to pit road for fresh tires. He restarted 14th and improved to 11th before an incident slowed the race on lap 100. Once back underway, Elliott was hopeful the race would stay green, but the caution flag was displayed one more time. He restarted eighth with just four laps to go and raced his way to third before driving through dirt on the track, stalling his momentum and dropping him back to fourth. Elliott continued on, making his way back up to third before the checkered flag waved. It was his third consecutive top-five finish at the road course.

“I’m not sure if there was dirt across the track or what, but it happened a couple of times throughout the day,” Elliott remarked following the race. “I was obviously pushing really hard. I just got sliding and ran out of road, but I don’t know that it would have been enough anyways, to be honest. I wasn’t near as good that run than the run before. I’m not really sure why that was, but the call by Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) was great. It was nice to be on offense and give ourselves a shot. I wish I could have made it happen there. I was trying, but I just couldn’t get going like we needed to there at the end. We had a really fast No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet all day. I thought we were really solid. We probably needed a little bit more to get Shane (Van Gisbergen) and Chase (Briscoe).”

Elliott remains second in the regular season points standings, just 14 markers behind teammate William Byron.

Start / Finish: 13 / 3
Points Standing / Total: 2nd / 654 pts. (-14)

Next Race: Sunday, July 20, Dover Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 2:00 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN or SiriusXM

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