Elliott, NAPA Team Score Top-10 Finish at Pocono

• Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team qualified 11th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
• In the 160-lap race, the 2020 Cup Series champion drove to a fifth-place finish in stage one and followed that up with a second-place effort in the second stage.
• In the final stage, Elliott overcame a pit road speeding penalty to score a ninth-place finish at Pocono. It was his 10th top-10 finish at the 2.5-mile track and his 10th top-10 of the 2024 season.
• Elliott retook the lead of the regular season point standings by three markers over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team qualified 11th for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway. After initially losing some positions early in the race, he relayed to the team that he liked his balance and was “just trying to get it going.” Elliott was scored in 12th when the first caution of the race came out on lap 14. Staying out, he was 10th to choose his position for the lap-18 restart and opted for the outside lane. Getting an excellent restart, he advanced to seventh within one lap and went on to finish the first stage in fifth at the completion of lap 30.

After a fast stop for four tires and fuel, he was the first car off pit road but was scored 24th for the choose due to varying strategies by teams. Opting for the bottom lane to start stage two on lap 36, he again made quick work of the cars ahead of him and re-entered the top 10 on lap 40. By lap 49, the 2020 Cup Series champion reclaimed the fifth position and was told shortly after that his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was the fastest car on the track. He was still fifth when the caution flag waved on lap 53 and came to pit road for four tires and fuel. With some cars pitting for only two tires and three cars staying out, Elliott was the first on four fresh tires for the restart. He took the green from the ninth position on lap 59 and was back up to fifth by lap 63. Once again, he was told he was the fastest on the track. Elliott advanced to third on lap 70 and would gain one more position to take the green-and-white checkered flag to end stage two in second.

During the stage-ending caution, the No. 9 team made a stop for four tires and packed the NAPA Chevrolet with fuel. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native was 13th to choose his lane to start the final stage due to a mixture of strategies among the field. Elliott chose the inside lane for the lap-101 restart. He was up to seventh when a caution came out on lap 115 for a single-car incident. Elliott brought the NAPA Chevrolet to the attention of his crew for right-side tires and fuel. He was one of the first off pit road, but unfortunately received a speeding penalty. Trying to make the most of the situation, the team opted to take left-side tires and top off with fuel when serving the penalty. Restarting deep in the field on lap 121, Elliott went to work and focused forward. After a multi-car incident brought out the caution shortly after the green flag was shown, he was scored in the 20th position. On the ensuing restart, another incident occurred, slowing the race once again. This time, Elliott had advanced to 16th. Returning to green-flag conditions with 29 laps remaining, Elliott gained two more positions before the yellow flag was displayed just one lap later for fluid on the track. Elliott restarted 14th with 23 laps to go. The race went caution-free for the remainder, with Elliott taking the checkered flag in the ninth position.

The finish marked Elliott’s 10th top-10 effort at Pocono and his 10th top-10 of the season. The 28-year-old driver leaves Pocono as the leader of regular season point standings by three markers over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson.

“It was a great effort by our NAPA Auto Parts team today,” Elliott said. “I definitely felt like that was a gain compared to how we’ve been here at Pocono. The speeding penalty was unfortunate, but it was good to get back up into the top 10 at the end there. We’ll head to Indy next week and see what we can do.”

Start / Finish: 11 / 9
Points Standing / Total: 1st / 703 pts. (+3)

Next Race: Sunday, July 21, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS Radio Network or SiriusXM

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