9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 26 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 1st
No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
NEW TRACK SUCCESS: Chase Elliott has quite the knack for success in races on new tracks added to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule and this Sunday’s race at WWTR is the latest new addition to the slate. He’s been the first one to visit victory lane at the Daytona Road Course (2020), Circuit of The Americas (2021) and most recently at Road America last July. Those victories make up three of his 14 Cup Series wins.
SIMILAR TRACK STATS: While Elliott has never raced at the 1.25-mile track in the St. Louis area, he has plenty of experience on tracks similar in length. In 45 starts on tracks measuring 1 to 1.37 miles in length, the 26-year-old driver has three wins, including a victory at Dover Motor Speedway earlier this season. Accompanying those victories are 18 top-five finishes, 24 top-10s and 1,190 laps led.
NO. 9 IS TOPS: Despite a tough result at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Elliott and the No. 9 team, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native continues to hold the Cup Series points lead by 34 markers over Ross Chastain. Elliott has been atop the standings for 10 consecutive weeks and now has eight playoff points with the help of his stage one win last weekend.
LEADING LAPS: Elliott has spent a lot of time at the front of the field in 2022. Through 14 races, he’s led 445 circuits, a career-high mark for the driver of the No. 9 at this point in the season. Those laps are second to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who’s led 570 on the season.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: The No. 9 team currently owns the best average time for four-tire pit stops at 11.644 seconds. The team is comprised of jackman T.J. Semke, gasman John Gianninoto, tire carrier Jared Erspamer and tire changers Chad Avrit and Nick O’Dell.
HOOTERS IS BACK: Hooters joins the No. 9 team as the primary partner for the first of three races in 2022 on Sunday at WWTR. At the end of 2021, it was announced that Hooters had extended its primary sponsorship of Elliott and the No. 9 team through 2024. Hooters will also be on Elliott’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 later this season at Bristol Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Cup Series playoffs.
WHEN CHASE WINS, YOU WIN: Fans can visit Hooters on Mondays after Cup Series races this season and ask their server for free fried pickles with any drink purchase when Elliott finishes in the top 10. If he wins, customers receive free boneless wings with any 10-wing purchase. Get more details at hooters.com/racing.
NEARING 100,000: Hendrick Motorsports needs to lead just 98 miles in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series raceto cross 100,000 miles led in the sport’s top series. This would be achieved by leading 79 laps at WWTR this weekend. The four-car team has led 1,445.43 miles in the 14 points-paying races held thus far in 2022.
INAUGURAL TRIUMPHS: Sunday’s race marks the first Cup Series race at the 1.25-mile track. In the last six races on new tracks for the Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsports has won four times. Three of those wins came last year with victories for Chase Elliott at Road America and Circuit of The Americas and Kyle Larson grabbing the win at Nashville Superspeedway.
VARIETY PACK: Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane at more racetracks than any other active team. Its series-best 285 Cup wins have been spread across 31 different venues.
PRAIRIE STATE LOOK BACK: Prior to Sunday’s race at the Madison, Illinois, track, the Cup Series has raced 21 times in the state of Illinois with 19 of those starts coming at Chicagoland Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports won at that 1.5-mile track three times with Alex Bowman winning in the last event held there in 2019.
OUT FRONT: Through the first 14 races in 2022, Hendrick Motorsports has led the most laps in the Cup Series with 1,280 circuits out front. The second- and third-place teams just eclipse that mark when combined. This is the first time in eight seasons that the 14-time Cup champions have led over 1,200 laps at this point in the season.
WHERE THE WINS STAND: With 12 races left in the regular season, Hendrick Motorsports has five wins in 2022 – the most in the series. The organization is the fastest to have its entire four-car lineup win in one season as it achieved that in the first 11 races of the season. William Byron’s two wins lead the way for the squad.
FINISHING TOUCHES:Hendrick Motorsports has the most top fives (16) and top 10s (30)in the 2022 Cup Series season. Larson has a team-best six top-fives, while Elliott and Bowman are tied for the team lead with nine top-10 finishes.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on heading to the 1.25-mile oval for the first time: “I think anytime you head to a new track it’s tough. You can do everything to try to prepare, but you’re not really going to know until you make those first laps in practice. We’re getting a little more track time than we do at most tracks so that will help give us an opportunity to try to figure some things out ahead of Sunday. There are a lot of unknowns, but I’m looking forward to heading there and seeing what we can do.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on racing at the St. Louis-area track: “We’re just going to have to be prepared to adapt. We’ve been looking at our notes from Phoenix (Raceway) and Richmond (Raceway) and trying to put them together as we’ve been anticipating what to expect. I don’t really think anybody is going to be able to hit it right off the truck, so that’s where you’re going to have to be able to adapt and adjust. Whoever does a good job of that is going to be fast. Chase always does great at providing feedback and telling us what he needs out of the car, so hopefully we’ll be in a good position heading into Sunday.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
