Chase Elliott heads home for K&N event at Gresham

JEFFERSON, Ga. – Georgia native Chase Elliott returns to his home track of Gresham Motorsports Park on Saturday, June 9 for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at the half-mile track.

Elliott hails from Dawsonville, Ga., roughly 50 miles northeast of the Jefferson track where the young driver earned two late-model wins earlier this year. In April, he drove the No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Gresham Motorsports Park during the Beau Slocumb Memorial 208. One month later, Elliott was in Victory Lane again, this time for the Racing Radios 100.

In 12 late model starts there during the past three years, Elliott has four wins, including the Beau Slocumb Memorial 208 and the Racing Radios 100. He has three pole positions, eight top-five finishes and nine top-10s at the half-mile track. Even with his strong track statistics, Elliott says it won’t necessarily offer him an advantage this weekend.

“With the K&N Pro Series, we’ve only been there once in that car, so I don’t know if it’s comfort as much as it’s just a little bit of knowledge of how the racetrack has changed from last year to this year,” Elliott said. “Being able to race on it twice already this year might help me a little bit.”

He made his K&N Pro Series East debut at the half-mile oval in June 2011, opening the race from sixth position. Elliott encountered a fuel issue late in the race that resulted in a 22nd-place finish.

This year, Elliott enters the event atop the series standings and with his first K&N Pro Series East victory under his belt. The driver of the No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet improved from a 15th-place starting position at Iowa Speedway on May 19 to move into first during a green-white-checkered finish in the East-West combo event. In five races so far this season, Elliott has one win, two top-five finishes and five top-10s, making him the only driver to earn a top-10 finish in every event.

Elliott will join his fellow K&N Pro Series East drivers for an autograph session at 5 p.m. on race day. The 150-lap race at Gresham Motorsports Park will broadcast Thursday, June 21 on SPEED at 3 p.m. ET.