The MLB Playoffs and NFL regular season are hogging all the headlines, but for motorsports fans the NASCAR Chase For The Cup is in full swing. And for fans of the No. 9 car it was a glorious Sunday as Chase Elliott took home the checkered flag for the Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway.
He needed a little luck and some bold pit-strategy decisions by his crew-chief Alan Gustafson to put it all together, but that is part of the beauty of NASCAR racing. It's not always the fastest car that rides into victory lane. Track position, pit-stop strategy, re-starts and good ole Lady Luck all play a part.
This is Elliott's third full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series. The son of NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Bill Elliott (Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, Million Dollar Bill) Chase was considered a motorsports prodigy when he debuted in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2014 at the age of 18 and promptly won the Xfinity Series title that season.
Hendrick Racing owner Rick Hendrick couldn't wait to move Chase up into the Cup Series and discreetly pushed Jeff Gordon out the door into retirement so Elliott could begin racing full-time in the Cup Series beginning in 2016. Expectations were sky high but it took Chase a little time to find his footing. In his first two seasons, Elliott amassed seven runner-up finishes but never found his way into victory lane.
Chase got off to bit of a slow start this season and he admitted he was starting to feel the pressure. In the 9th race of the season, he once again finished in second place at Richmond. He tied an all-time NASCAR record for recording 8 second place finishes without yet winning a race. Who did he tie with? None other than his Dad Bill Elliott.
The duo will have to share the record as Elliott finally broke through at Watkins Glen in August to win his first career Cup Series race and punch his ticket to the 2018 playoffs. Watkins Glen is a road course and Elliott isn't really known as a top road course driver so it was kind of funny he grabbed his first win there. Then again I remember another driver who wasn't much of a threat on road courses who captured his first career victory at a road course race. His name was Bill Elliott. The parallels between father and son are getting spooky.
16 drivers qualified for the ten race playoffs which began in Las Vegas four weeks ago. The playoffs are broken up into three race elimination rounds until the series reaches the championship race at Miami. Four drivers are eliminated after each round and drivers advance by winning a race in the round or by virtue of points scored.
Chase's playoff run got off to a bad start in Vegas when he was wrecked out by Jamie McMurray and finished in 36th place. He came back the next two weeks to grab a 4th and 6th place finish to score enough points to advance to the round of 12.
The Dover race today was the start of the second elimination round and with his win Chase Elliott is guaranteed a spot in the round of 8 regardless of his finish in the next two races. Chase needed some luck, Kevin Harvick dominated the first 2/3 of the race before a pit-stop mishap resulted in a flat tire and an extra pit-stop that took him out of contention.
He also benefited from a bold call from his crew chief to eschew a pit-stop late in the race for fresh tires in order to gain valuable track position. He passed Brad Keselowski to assume the race lead and survived challenges from Denny Hamlin on two re-starts, the final one in overtime. Chase held on to lead the final 11 laps of the race, the only laps he led all afternoon. Of course you only have to lead one lap (the last one!) to win a race.
Things are looking good for the No. 9 car right now. If he can make it out of the round of 8, the final race in Miami is a do-or-die free-for-all for the final four drivers where anything can happen. It is exactly 30 years since Bill Elliott won his NASCAR Cup Series championship. The way their two careers are mirroring each other, it wouldn't surprise me if he pulls it off.
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