Chase Elliott Grabs Home Town Victory At Atlanta

Chase Elliott was out front when the final caution flag of the day brought an end to the Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

That gave the Dawsonville, Georgia native his first home track victory at the 1.54-mile Hampton, Georgia track.

“To win at your home track is a really big deal,” Elliott said. “I think to any race car driver. I’ve watched a lot of guys do it over the years; Jimmie (Johnson) out in California. We haven’t really had a very good run here, so I felt like today was a great opportunity for us.”

Elliott powered to the lead around Corey LaJoie with two laps to go in the 260 lap race, but the field behind him was surging as the white flag flew from the flag stand.

With a push from behind from Erik Jones, LaJoie made an aggressive move to the outside of Elliott, but found himself in the wall when Elliott moved up and blocked his momentum. That sent LaJoie spinning, gathering up Kurt Busch and others to bring out the caution.

With the race officially ended with the caution flag, Elliott cruised under the checkered flag to record his third win of the season.

“Obviously I knew he was going to have a big run,” said Elliott, who led eight times for 96 laps on the day and won the first two race segments. “I didn’t really want to give him the bottom, and I tried to give it one real good aggressive block. I felt like I had enough room to kind of give it a second one, and he was just right there on the right side of my back bumper, so was far enough to the backside of the bumper to launch me forward. I hate I tore up some cars, but I don’t know what you do…either go for the win or don’t. I’m going to choose option ‘A’ every day of the week.”

It marks the 16th career series win for Elliott, who was a winner early in his career in Bandolero and Legends cars on the front stretch quarter-mile layout at Atlanta.

It also makes Elliott just the second Georgia born driver to win at the track, joining his father on that list. It also makes the Elliotts the third father-son combination to win at Atlanta, with the others being Ned Jarrett and Dale Jarrett, along with Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

“This is obviously home for me,” said Elliott. “Home to a lot of great fans who made a lot of noise today. Home for NAPA right down the road in Atlanta. Couldn’t be more proud of our team. What a car. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a speedway car that good. If we have, I’ve probably wrecked it down at Daytona.

“But just, man, what a few weeks it’s been. I feel like I gave one away last week, and to come back and to put on a performance like that, I’m really proud of that.

“Excited to get home. It’s going to be a big one tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”

For LaJoie, it was almost an storybook ending for a race that saw his underfunded Spire Motorsports team not only lead laps, but contend for a victory against the multi-million dollar Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing juggernauts.

After moving into the lead back during the final segment of the race, LaJoie’s pit crew used a fuel-only stop to put him in the lead for a lap 195 restart.

LaJoie held off Elliott and Daniel Suarez to hold the point on the drop of the green flag, and would pace the race while battling back and forth with Elliott over the next several laps. Elliott would take the lead over with 56 laps left to go, but LaJoie stayed with the lead pack.

LaJoie would reclaim the lead on a restart with eight laps to go, only to see another caution follow moments later.

That set up the final restart of the day, with LaJoie working to hold off Martin Truex, Jr. When the lead duo made contact, that set up a three-wide pass that brought Elliott to LaJoie’s back bumper. Elliott used an outside move to retake the lead with two laps to go, setting up the final run to the checkered flag.

“I made my move and it didn’t work out, and the siren is ringing in Dawsonville unfortunately,’’ said LaJoie, who ended up with a 21st place finish.

Ross Chastain had an eventful day, one that saw him leading several times, as well as being involved in two of the 13 cautions that slowed action on the day.

The first occurred on lap 91, when contact between Chastain and Truex, Jr. set off a nine car shunt in turn one. It began when Truex’s Toyota slowed slightly, with Chastain’s Chevrolet being unable to slow in enough time to not make contact.

Among those gathered up were Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Austin Dillon. Dillon’s car made hard contact with the outside safer barrier, ending his race.

“We had a fast Chevy today – just ended up a victim of someone else’s mess,” said Dillon. “Our Chevy was really tight on the first run, then loose on the second run. After that, we were really good and coming. We just had nowhere to go. Thank the Good Lord above that we were okay. The hit looked bad, but the impact wasn’t as bad as it looked. I told myself that we were going to race hard all day rather than riding in the back, but when you got guys out there wrecking half the field, you might as well pick a different strategy.”

Chastain’s team made repairs to his car, which had suffered damage to the left front. He was able to move back into contention, even challenging for the lead with 25 laps left to go.

But the second incident for Chastain on the day came with 15 laps left to go, when contact between he and the Toyota of Denny Hamlin sent Hamlin spinning off turn four, also gathering up Brad Keselowski in the melee.

“We were in really good position and we were about to be clear of the 1 (Chastain) and be in third in the outside line,” said Hamlin, who was credited with a 25th place finish. “I was really happy with where I was at for sure. I think the 1 probably sensed that we were about to clear him so he chased us up there and got into us.”

In the end, Chastain helped push LaJoie back up to contend for the win, and rolled home to a second place finish.

“Our road crew and pit crew did an awesome job to rebound through all the damage repair, and we had a shot, and I got inside of the 9 (Elliott) coming off of (turn) 2, coming to the checkered, and caution came out,” said Chastain. “I hope everybody is all right back there, but awesome job to Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports. I really thought into 1 when we took the white that I was going to push him to the win, and they all just fought for the top and almost gave it to us.”

Austin Cindric finished in third, with Jones in fourth, and Ryan Blaney in fifth.

Suarez, Justin Haley, Aric Almirola, Cole Custer, and Harrison Burton rounded out the top 10.

The race was slowed twice for multi-car incidents, including a crash on lap 170 that began when the car of Garrett Smithley spun after contact from Ty Dillon, who was pushed forward by the car of Kyle Larson. As Smithley and Dillon spun, the cars of Tyler Reddick, and William Byron were gathered up, while Bubba Wallace and Keselowski spun in the aftermath.

In all, 64 laps of the event on Sunday were spent under the caution flag.

NASCAR Cup Series
Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, GA
Quaker State 400 – July 10, 2022

1. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 260.
2. (2) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 260.
3. (5) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 260.
4. (25) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 260.
5. (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 260.
6. (7) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 260.
7. (24) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 260.
8. (22) Aric Almirola, Ford, 260.
9. (18) Cole Custer, Ford, 260.
10. (27) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 260.
11. (9) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 260.
12. (10) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 260.
13. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 260.
14. (32) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 260.
15. (12) Michael McDowell, Ford, 260.
16. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 260.
17. (28) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 260.
18. (31) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 260.
19. (15) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 260.
20. (19) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 260.
21. (30) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 260.
22. (21) Kurt Busch, Toyota, Accident, 259.
23. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 259.
24. (36) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 259.
25. (16) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 259.
26. (17) Joey Logano, Ford, DVP, 252.
27. (33) Garrett Smithley(i), Ford, 252.
28. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, DVP, 174.
29. (4) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, Accident, 170.
30. (13) William Byron, Chevrolet, Accident, 170.
31. (20) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, Engine, 162.
32. (8) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, DVP, 160.
33. (11) Chris Buescher, Ford, Accident, 107.
34. (29) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 91.
35. (26) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 90.
36. (35) B.J. McLeod(i), Ford, Accident, 77.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 118.754 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 22 Mins, 18 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Caution Flags: 13 for 64 laps

Lead Changes: 27 among 12 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Chastain 1;C. Elliott 2;R. Chastain 3-21;D. Hamlin 22-23;R. Blaney 24;C. Elliott 25-50;R. Blaney 51;C. Elliott 52-63;T. Reddick 64-69;M. Truex Jr. 70-86;C. Elliott 87-94;H. Burton # 95-98;R. Stenhouse Jr. 99-100;H. Burton # 101-105;W. Byron 106-146;T. Reddick 147-153;C. Elliott 154-162;A. Cindric # 163-169;E. Jones 170-179;R. Chastain 180-191;C. LaJoie 192-201;C. Elliott 202;C. LaJoie 203-204;C. Elliott 205-241;M. Truex Jr. 242-251;C. LaJoie 252-258;C. Elliott 259-260.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Chase Elliott 8 times for 96 laps; William Byron 1 time for 41 laps; Ross Chastain 3 times for 32 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 27 laps; Corey LaJoie 3 times for 19 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 13 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 10 laps; Harrison Burton # 2 times for 9 laps; Austin Cindric # 1 time for 7 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 2 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 2 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,48,1,12,24,18,45,11,5,20

Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,8,6,12,45,20,21,24,1,7

Playoff Standings: 1. Chase Elliott – 684 (3 Wins); 2. Ross Chastain – 634 (2 Wins); 3. Joey Logano – 562 (2 Wins); 4. William Byron – 505 (2 Wins); 5. Denny Hamlin – 409 (2 Wins); 6. Kyle Larson – 579 (1 Win); 7. Kyle Busch – 569 (1 Win); 8. Alex Bowman – 508 (1 Win); 9. Austin Cindric – 465 (1 Win); 10. Tyler Reddick – 458 (1 Win); 11. Daniel Suarez – 451 (1 Win); 12. Kurt Busch – 449 (1 Win); 13. Chase Briscoe – 443 (1 Win); 14. Ryan Blaney – 637; 15. Martin Truex, Jr. – 566; 16. Christopher Bell – 523.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series