Elliott wins super late model event at Five Flags

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Chase Elliott continued his winning streak after crossing the finish line first in the super late model event at Five Flags Speedway on May 25.

This is Elliott’s third win of the month. He first drove his No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Gresham Motorsports Park on May 12 after winning the super late model event there. Then, Elliott won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series-West combination event at Iowa Speedway on May 19, earning his first victory in 18 career K&N Pro Series starts. With the win, Elliott extended his lead in the K&N Pro Series East championship standings to 20 points over second-place Brett Moffitt.

“We had a really good car,” Elliott said. “This wasn’t me. It was the racecar and it shows just how hard all the guys work. We can be better, that’s a fact. Obviously, any win you can get is great. But as soon as the checkered flag dropped, this race is over and we have to get ready for the future. The Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevy was definitely good, but we’ve got to improve come Snowball Derby time. I know with this group of guys we’ve got, we’ll do just that.”

In just 10 late model starts so far this season, Elliott has posted six wins, seven top-five finishes, nine top-10s and also earned four pole positions. The 16-year-old Elliott also won at the Pensacola, Fla., racetrack in late March. He will race there again in December for the Snowball Derby.

Elliott started the Friday event in the eighth position and consistently ran inside the top-10 early in the 100-lap race. By Lap 46, Elliott was running sixth. When the race reached Lap 61, Elliott had worked his way up to fourth and only five laps later, he was up to third.

At Lap 82, Elliott passed Mike Garvey for the second position as he continued his pursuit to catch leader Bubba Pollard. With every lap, Elliott was steadily closing in on Pollard. On Lap 92, Elliott took the lead and three laps later, he had extended it by five car lengths.

A late race caution came out at Lap 98, and when the event resumed it called for a green-white-checkered finish. Elliott was strong on the restart and pulled away to a two-car length lead, which is where he remained when the race concluded.

With this win, Elliott now has posted seven wins, 12 top-five finishes and, 14 top-10s at the half-mile track in 18 late model starts. One of those wins includes the prestigious Snowball Derby in December 2011, where he bested NASCAR Cup-level talent to become the youngest winner in the event’s history.

Next up, Elliott will drive his No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet in the June 2 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.