MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Cleary when Chase Elliott had plans of making his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut, he didn’t have a 27th place starting position in mind.
But of course after spending Thursday night mad and worried about Friday’s erratic weather forecast at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, the reigning XFINITY Series champion was just happy to have the opportunity to qualify.
“I went to bed last night, disappointed, looking at the weather,” offered Elliott. “Part of me had a hard time going to sleep. That part was so mad that it was like I wasn’t too excited about making the drive over here in the rain. We were actually talking about if we didn’t get in, we’d go run a short track race tomorrow (Saturday) night. So, I’m glad we couldn’t go do that and we can stay here and race on Sunday.”
Now that the driver of the No. 25 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet has guaranteed himself a start in the fifth race of the season, the Dawsonville, Georgia native can shift his focus towards Sunday’s STP 500.
500 grueling laps around the 0.526-mile short track can be exhausting for anyone, but the first of five planned Sprint Cup Series races will be the perfect test for the Hendrick Motorsports driver to get his feet wet and prepare to inherit the driving responsibilities of the No. 24 Chevrolet in 2016 for the retiring Jeff Gordon.
“Obviously, we want to go as fast as we can for as long as possible,” added Elliott. “We want to do the best we can and make the most of these races and try to just gain as much knowledge as possible. To have an opportunity to go run five races doesn’t seem like a lot, but at the end of the day it really is, if you can get in all five, and make those laps. You’ve got to take it one at a time, first off. You just want to put together 500 solid laps on Sunday and try to run all the laps and hope we can have a good day.”
Longtime Hendrick Motorsports employee Kenny Francis will crew chief the aspiring 19-year old Sunday.
Kenny has done a great job and really all the guys,” said Elliott. “This is a tough deal for a four-car team to bring an extra car to the race track; and especially the guys in the 5 / 24 shop, the chassis shop, and the engine shop, to do an extra car. That’s asking for a lot. For them to do it, and the way that they did it, and to bring as nice of a car as they brought for me to drive this weekend, is very impressive. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the team I’m on and I want to try to do my job for them.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
