HAMPTON, Ga. - For Chase Elliott, Atlanta Motor Speedway provides a chance to bounce back from a rough start to his 2016 season.
After sitting on the pole for the season opening Daytona 500, the Dawsonville, Georgia driver spun on lap 19, with his car being heavily damaged when the front splitter dug into the soft grass on the infield. He would soldier home to a 37th place finish, some 40 laps down to the leaders.
But coming into his home track this weekend, Elliott is looking to get his rookie season in the Cup Series back on track.
“Not wrecking on lap 20 would be a good start,” the 20-year-old said. “To get going this weekend and see how things are today. I’m excited, like I said. Daytona is week one but it’s such an animal of its own and a unique race. Everybody I think realizes that Atlanta is that first week of the places you’re going to see the majority of the rest of the season. We recognize that. Daytona counts, too, so that’s disappointing to have a disappointing day last Sunday.
“But we’re already here at Atlanta so getting drowned in last week isn’t going to do any good. We realize that and will try to move forward. Having a good weekend would be great. We just want to do our jobs and do the best we can.”
Despite the problems, Elliott said that his first SpeedWeeks behind the wheel of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevy was “a cool experience.”
“It’s such a special week, and for me getting used to it– just like everybody else – was fun and a new experience. I’m excited about it. I’ve had a lot of great support from inside our team and outside our team. Jeff (Gordon) has been very supportive, so that’s all been great. A lot of friends and a lot of fans have been very supportive and that makes that transition a lot easier for me.”
Along with having the drive to get his season going back in the right direction, just having the chance to get on track again in front of a hometown track is pretty big.
“I’m excited, first off. We want to try and get things going and have a little better week than last week. We’re all excited about it. I know Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody has been working hard in the off season to improve our mile-and-a-half program. I think they feel really confident in it with some things they’ve been working on.”
Elliott will start from the 24th position for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at the Hampton, Georgia raceway, turning a lap at 189.390 mph. He was bumped out from moving to the second round of qualifying in the final moments of round one by fellow rookie Ryan Blaney.
But despite all the attention of competing just about an hour and a half away from his hometown, Elliott says he really doesn’t feel any extra pressure this weekend.
“The way racing is for me, I want to do well here just as much as I do anywhere else. I don’t really like to put anything above anything else as far as racetracks go. I don’t pick favorites. Obviously Atlanta is a special place to me because I’ve raced Bandoleros and Legends cars here on the front straightaway. So it’s a special place but I don’t think it adds any extra pressure really.
“I do think it would be very cool if we could have a good run here with friends and family around. But I want to do here just as much as I want to do well anywhere else.”
WDUN will have live PRN Radio coverage of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Heads Up 250 from Atlanta Motor Speedway beginning at 1 pm on 102.9 FM.
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