This week’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a home race for the sport’s Most Popular Driver, 24-year old Chase Elliott of Dawsonville, Georgia. There will be plenty of family and friends joining a huge fandom in the stands and Elliott would love nothing more than to earn his first victory of the season at the venue.
It would be fantastically popular and fantastically important.
Elliott, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is in third place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, only 20 points behind leader Kevin Harvick. He’s climbed up the standings with a pair of top-10 finishes in the last two races – fourth in California and seventh at Phoenix last week, where he also won the Busch Pole position.
Elliott has a series best three stage wins. And he’s led laps in three of the four races, including a race best 93 laps at Phoenix. His 70 laps out front at Las Vegas were second only to Harvick’s 92 laps led. Neither of the drivers, however, has won a race. Yet.
Atlanta Motor Speedway certainly is a prime prospect for Elliott to celebrate mightily in Victory Lane. He has three top-10 finishes in four NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track, including a best of fifth place in 2017. His worst showing was in 2019 when Elliott finished 19th.
Interestingly, for as good as Elliott’s results have been, he’s never led a lap at Atlanta.
