Second-generation NASCAR driver Chase Elliott is set to make his second Sprint Cup start this weekend at Richmond International Raceway. It will be Elliott’s first attempt at a double-duty weekend as he’ll also be racing in the Xfinity Series, where he is the defending series champion.
Elliott, who is set to take over the No. 24 Chevrolet of the retiring Jeff Gordon next season, said the biggest goal is to simply make the field for the Cup race as his No. 25 team does not have a provisional starting position.
“We first have to make the show,” Elliott said in a team release. As he’s been throughout his career, Elliott is pragmatic about the races at Richmond.
“We have to take this weekend step by step,” he said. “First we need the weather to cooperate to be able to practice in order to qualify Friday night. So we’ll position ourselves the best we can in situations we can control.”
Elliott has had a good season but not as spectacular as last year when he won three Xfinity Series races, rookie of the year and the series championship. This season he has a best finish of fourth at Auto Club Speedway and is third in the standings heading into Richmond. In his Cup debut at Martinsville, he started 27th and finished 38th.
Bill Elliott, his father, said this week that his son’s results this year are more in line with what should be expected from him.
“Last year was a miracle year,” he said. “This year is more reality.”
Elliott said his son has the best equipment from Hendrick Motorsports at his disposal and top-notch personnel behind him, so the future is bright.
“He’s in the best hands,” he said. “The rest is racing luck.”
Elliott also said that he hasn’t tried to offer his son too much advice on driving, especially on the radio during races. “I haven’t said a dozen words on the radio in a year and a half,” he said. “He’s got it figured out.”
The new No. 3: Since he joined the Sprint Cup Series full-time last year driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, Austin Dillon hasn't had many runs that remind fans of the late Dale Earnhardt, who drove the No. 3 for Childress until his death in the 2001 Daytona 500.
Dillon has made steady progress as a driver. Last year he ran every lap of every Cup race, recording one top-five finish and three other top 10s. He also won the pole for the Daytona 500.
This year he’s also been running most of the Xfinity Series races, where he has a win at Las Vegas and three other top-five finishes.
On Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Dillon was poised to record his career-best Cup finish. He was running third when his car ran out of fuel under caution just before the green flag dropped to start a two-lap sprint to the finish. Still, he bounced back to finish ninth, his best effort of the season.
Although he was disappointed, Dillon did see his and his team’s performance as a sign of better days ahead.
“The good thing is the confidence is up, and it was a great run for our team,” he said. “Just wish I could have finished it off because we were there all night, and it would have been nice to have a restart with those guys.”
Historic finish for Suarez: In finishing second to Joey Logano in Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Daniel Suarez recorded the circuit's best-ever finish by a Mexican-born driver. The rookie drives the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“We improved the car at every single stop, and that’s the most important thing is to learn, to improve,” Suarez said in his post-race interview at Bristol.
Suarez said he’s been calling on the injured Kyle Busch, his teammate at Gibbs, for advice.
“We’ve been talking a lot since I started racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), but since Texas I started talking a little bit more with him about the race track and what’s going on and what to do,” he said. “It’s been a huge change since Texas.”
Suarez, 23, came to NASCAR’s truck and Xfinity series after racing Late Models in Mexico along with some appearances in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series, neither of which offer the level of competition of the top NASCAR circuits. Still, he’s 10th in the Xfinity standings, and his only finish outside the top 20 was at Daytona where he wrecked and finished 39th.
Etc.: Former NASCAR team owner Marvin Ragan, the uncle of Sprint Cup driver David Ragan, died Tuesday from complications of leukemia after being diagnosed in November, 2012. Ragan, 72, of Unadilla owned the cars driven by his brother Ken Ragan on the Sprint Cup circuit, and was a partner in Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele for the past 10 years. Ragan was a U.S. Navy veteran who served three tours of duty in the Vietnam War where he earned numerous honors including the Vietnam Service Medal with 2 bronze stars and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry Medal.
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