Elliott earns a solid top-10 finish in his ARCA debut
IRVINGTON, Ala. Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Aarons Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, led 22 laps and finished 10th in his ARCA Racing Series debut on Saturday at Mobile International Speedway.
Elliott, who narrowly missed earning the pole position by just 0.008 seconds during Fridays qualifying session, started Saturdays event in the second spot. Twenty-nine laps into the race, Elliott passed the lead car on the inside. Elliott drove away easily in his No. 9 Chevrolet after finding clean air and gained a 0.733-second lead.
Elliott maintained this lead for a total of 22 laps, and when the race saw its third caution around Lap 51, crew chief Lance McGrew called him into the pits for fresh tires and fuel. Since things were tight on pit road at the half-mile track, Elliott was forced to reverse in his pit stall upon exit, which lost him some positions. He returned to the field running 19th on Lap 55.
Elliott overcame this minor setback and steadily drove his way through the field, climbing as high as third by Lap 76. Four laps later during a caution, Elliott reported to his Aarons Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com team that the No. 9 Chevrolet was really fast and that he was running easy laps to save his tires. The 16-year-old driver improved to second when the race resumed at Lap 83.
At the halfway point, most cars came in to the pits for fresh tires, but McGrew made the call for Elliott to stay out. When the race reached Lap 113, Elliott still was running second. However, the cars with fresh tires behind Elliott started catching up with the No. 9 Chevrolet. Elliott battled hard, and he was able to stay inside the top 10 until Lap 137.
On Lap 150, Elliott was 15th and a lap down because he was running on older tires. Nineteen laps later, the No. 9 team benefited from a caution flag, and McGrew called Elliott in to the pits for four fresh tires and fuel.
After a gutsy pass down the front straightaway, Elliott positioned himself to be the lucky dog on the next caution and that came on Lap 177. Elliott, who was now back on the lead lap, was running 16th.
The remainder of the event included many caution flags, which made it hard for Elliott to work his way back up through the field. But the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet managed to improve four spots during that time and picked up another two during the green-white-checkered finish on Laps 202 and 203. Elliott finished 10th.
Next up, Elliott will drive his No. 9 Aarons Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on March 17.
updated by @stars-radio: 12/05/16 04:09:31PM