Bill Elliott won't compete at AMS this weekend

By Rick Minter

For the AJC

Since he starting in the series now known as Sprint Cup back in 1976, Georgia’s best-known NASCAR driver, Bill Elliott of Dawsonville, has never gone a whole year without racing at his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway.

But that streak is expected to end this week. Other than accompanying his son, Chase, to an appearance on behalf of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series that his son races in, Elliott won’t participate in the AdvoCare 500 weekend.

Elliott, 55, has run 62 races at Atlanta, winning five times, snagging five poles and leading 1,017 laps.

He has made only five starts this year, four of them for Phoenix Racing, which released him after four starts. He said he still thinks he’s capable of performing at a high level in the right equipment, but the only offers he’s getting are from teams that want to hire him because as a past series champion, he can get a starting spot even if his qualifying speed isn’t fast enough.

“I don’t want to get into that,” he said, adding that the money to be made is substantial. “It’s pretty tempting.”

He acknowledges that unless he signs on with an underfunded team or a start-and-park outfit, his driving career might have ended, but he’s not ready to call himself retired.

In the meantime, he’s staying busy, working with his son’s race team. Just two weekends ago, Chase Elliott, 15, won Late Model features in Michigan and Indiana on back-to-back nights. “I need to let Chase drive for me,” Elliott said. “He could get the job done.”

Stewart woes

In a typical Sprint Cup season, when the days get hot and the tracks even hotter and slicker, Tony Stewart is at his best. But this year, the hot weather hasn’t seemed to help. The two-time Cup champion remains winless, has just two top-five finishes for the season and is on the verge of dropping out of the running for a Chase berth. He has finished outside the top 25 in two of his past three starts and hasn’t led a lap in the past four races. He enters the AdvoCare 500 ranked 10th in the standings, with only a 21-point cushion over 11th-place Brad Keselowski.

Meanwhile his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Ryan Newman has a win at New Hampshire, seven other top-fives and is seventh in points with a 73-point cushion over 11th place. He could clinch his Chase spot this weekend.

Newman said that although he and Stewart race out of the same shop, there are differences in their teams. Last year it was Newman struggling while Stewart had a better season.

Truck series

A look at the points standings in the Camping World Truck Series, which races at AMS on Friday, seems to indicate that the series is undergoing a significant changing of the guard.

Five drivers in the top 10 in the points standings are age 21 and younger.

James Buescher, 21, is second in the standings, just seven points behind Johnny Sauter despite getting no points at Phoenix this year when he was too slow in qualifying and had no provisional starting spot. Austin Dillon, 21, is fourth while Cole Whitt, 20, is fifth, just ahead of Joey Coulter, 21. Parker Klingerman, 21, drove the No. 22 Dodge in the Nationwide Series race at Bristol last week and is eighth in truck points.

“I think the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has seen a shift in competition,” Buescher told reporters from Speed. “A couple of years ago, [Ron] Hornaday, [Johnny] Benson, [Mike] Skinner and [Todd] Bodine won half the races.

“They are obviously still very competitive and a threat to win each time we hit the track, but the younger generation is really starting to show their strength.”