Elliott wins Gresham's World Crown 300 in dominating fashion

JEFFERSON, Ga. – Chase Elliott celebrated the Fourth of July by recording his third major super late model victory. In front of friends and family at his local home track, Elliott won the 29th annual World Crown 300 super late model event at Gresham Motorsports Park.

The 16-year-old driver dominated all night in his No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet and won all three segments at the half-mile track. With Wednesday night’s World Crown 300 win, Elliott now has captured three of the major super late model races in addition to his Snowball Derby and Winchester 400 victories.

This also is Elliott’s fifth career super late model win at Gresham and his third victory this year at the half-mile track. In the 13 late model events he’s raced overall at Gresham during the past three years, he also has earned four pole positions, nine top-five finishes and 10 top-10s.

“We just really had a good Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevy,” said Elliott, who now has posted seven wins, 10 top-five finishes, 12 top 10s and five pole positions in just 13 late model starts this season. “Hats off to everybody on our crew, everybody works really hard especially this season I feel like they’ve really made our race cars better.”

Elliott started on a high note Wednesday afternoon after winning the pole award for the 300-lap event with a 16.609-second lap at 108.375 mph. When the race began, Elliott was fast right out of the gate and extended his lead early on. He maintained it until Lap 107, when he pitted under caution for four tires. After the stop, Elliott was running ninth by Lap 110. Twenty-one laps later, he regained the lead and maintained it until Lap 150 to win the event’s first segment. During this first break, Elliott came in the pits for fuel and adjustments.

The starting lineup for the second segment was created after the top 15 cars were inverted, and that put Elliott in 15th. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet wasted little time climbing through the field, and by Lap 175, he was running sixth. Twenty five laps later, Elliott was running fourth.

When the race approached Lap 210, Elliott drove his way into the third position. Then a caution came out at Lap 224 for debris so crew chief Ricky Turner called Elliott into the pits for four tires. The race resumed at Lap 225 and one lap later, Elliott once again took the lead and maintained it until Lap 250 to win the second segment.

Elliott came into the pits for four tires during the second break, and when the green flag waved on Lap 251, he was third. Three laps later, Elliott was back up front leading the pack, and he never looked back. By Lap 291, he had a four-car length lead on the second-place Bubba Pollard, and he kept the lead until the race’s checkered flag waved at Lap 300. With the victory, Elliott became just the second driver to win the World Crown 300 event from the pole position.

Next up, Elliott will drive his No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet in the July 14 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at CNB Bank Raceway Park in Clearfield, Pa.