HAMPTON, Ga: A fan favorite everywhere he goes, Dawsonville, Ga.-native Chase Elliott is especially beloved racing at his home state track in Atlanta. And he’s happy to be back at it on the superspeedway-style 1.5-mile track whose high banks and configuration create a similar style of competition to the bigger tracks at Daytona and Talladega.
Elliott finished 15th last weekend in the DAYTONA 500, leading two laps, even though his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was collected in one of the multi-car accidents. And although that was frustrating because he had a solid and encouraging race week otherwise, Elliott says it’s simply best to accept and embrace the kind of driving style and competition necessary at the big tracks.
“I don’t necessarily know that it’s my favorite style of racing to participate in, but it is definitely a style of racing that you really have to learn to at least accept and try and learn how to get better at, and really just understand that there’s not just two or three on the schedule anymore,” Elliott said.
“When you look at the schedule, you have two Atlanta’s, two Daytona’s, two Talladega’s, right? When you come to that conclusion, it’s like — well we better really try and race this, improve and figure out a way to make these races count for the better because, if not, you’re just throwing too much of the season away.
“So, I think that, historically, you could kind of get away with not worrying about the speedway races with where they fell on the calendar and the fact there wasn’t as many of them. But I don’t really think that’s the case anymore.”
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
