Chase Elliott is the youngest Daytona 500 Pole Winner in the history of NASCAR, which shatters the record held previously by Austin Dillon when he won it at the age of 20 years, two months and 17 days old.
Atlanta Motor Speedway has always been a special place for Chase Elliott, his racing beginnings are connected here, “It’s always been a special place for me. Dad (Bill Elliott) and I have done a lot of racing here on the front stretch, whether it be a bandolero or legends car. It’s odd, I guess, to think about being part of this Sprint Cup weekend. I can remember racing the Legends car when the Cup cars were in town. We’re excited to be part of the show and hopefully put on a good one for the fans. ” Chase Elliott said during the press conference.
Even though Elliott has won the pole for the Daytona 500, Elliott’s approach to the subject about him winning the pole was done spoken in a humble way when asked about it. “Regardless, as I’ve said, yesterday had very, very little to do with me. It was about the 24 team, Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop and my sponsor NAPA Auto parts for making it all happen.”
Chase Elliott is focused on getting through speed weeks and does feel as though sitting on the front row of the Daytona 500 was a great goal for him to have, seeing as it is the same car that Jeff Gordon drove at Talladega last fall shows that the team is focused on staying ahead of the curve and says a lot about the team. The Duel races are fine but he’s more focused on learning because it’s his first time that he will get to work on drafting while in a cup car during a race event. Elliott also understands the importance it is to keep his car in one piece for race day “It’s going to be important to be smart but to also learn from what I can and try without jeopardizing the car and the pole position.”
Chase Elliott openly admits to learning from Dale Earnhardt Jr whether it’s on or off the track he went to Dale Jr and asked about it to get a better understanding of drafting. “As I can tell, he’s been an open book with me. I’m sure he’s not going to tell everybody everything. There are some things you have to learn on your own, but he’s been great so far. They all have.”
Chase admits that he has never done drafting in a large pack because it is different running with a single car wide open versus having guys all around you sometimes four-wide and he has never done that before in a cup car, he understands the Xfinity side of racing and knows that the racing is nowhere near the same because the cars are very much different.
When asked if the spotlight around his name and his car number was any added pressure, Chase smiled a little before saying, “The pressure is as much as you let it. As far as the spotlight goes, I look at that as an avenue for me to make sure that I give credit to the people that deserve it.”
When Chase Elliott returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500 he won’t just be making his first start in a Sprint Cup car here. He will also be working on the new low downforce package. Chase Elliott was looking forward to the chance to use the new package because he doesn’t have to learn the old package. “I get to come here to Atlanta Motor Speedway with a fresh notebook and high speeds. Atlanta for a lot of guys is Week 1. I’m excited to get here. This is my home track. So that’s special. At the same time, you can’t forget about Daytona. It’s unique.”
Larry McReynolds who is a TV analyst for Fox Sports 1 and a former crew chief is excited for the new package, “We got a little bit of a taste for it at the Kentucky race and at Darlington, one of the races Chase ran for Hendrick Motorsports last year. Certainly we had great racing at both tracks. Atlanta Motor Speedway, I can say this, coming here for a number of years as a crew chief and now going on 16 years as a broadcaster, and I’m not saying this because I’m standing on this stage, we don’t have bad racing at Atlanta. When you look at the fact that they have reduced the downforce by roughly 25-30 percent, overall front and back from what we had last year, it’s going to put even more in the drivers’ hands. Atlanta Motor Speedway is a driver’s racetrack anyhow because the cars do start sliding around, the tires do give up, and you do have options to move the car around from the bottom of the race track on fresh tires. The whole premise behind this package is to hopefully create a more side-by-side racing and more passing. If Kentucky and Darlington were any indication of that, I’m anxious to get here — and I think everybody is.”
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