ELLIOTT ‘MUCH IMPROVED’
Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, Chase Elliott led his Hendrick Motorsports teammates to the checkered flag with a third-place finish, picking up a Stage 2 win along the way.
Although Elliott is still hungry for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory, he recognizes the improvements that he and the No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS team have made.
“For me, at this place I was way much improved than I've ever been here in the past,” Elliott said. “This is such an important race, especially when you come back here in the fall, it's not a place that you can just get by with running bad in life.”
Elliott is happy with the team’s progress and looks forward to using this knowledge and experience when they return to Martinsville in October.
“I was really proud of our improvements this weekend,” he said. “I really hope that we've found something or I have found something at this track that will lend some more consistent finishes that are further towards the front.”
ROAD BUMPS FOR EARNHARDT
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was having a strong run during Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway until he received a speeding penalty.
“The car was really good. (No. 88 team crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the guys made a lot of changes (Saturday) night and made our car way better,” Earnhardt said. “I must have sped on pit road. They said it was in the segment right after our pit stall, so I must have gotten a good launch out of there.”
Following the speeding penalty, Earnhardt was caught up in a multiple-car incident in Turn 3 that caused the team to end its day early.
“The radiator got knocked out of it,” Earnhardt explained. “When you get in the back of somebody that hard it’s going to knock the top of the radiator off.”
Despite the disappointing finish to the day, Earnhardt was pleased with the speed of his No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS.
“I was really happy with the way the car was running,” he said. “We were fast all day. We got back there in the back and got mixed up in something and it’s going to give us a bad finish, but we were having a great time -- had a fast car.”
KAHNE FINDS SPEED
Like Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne found speed at Martinsville only to be slowed by a speeding penalty. Kahne started the race in 13th and at the conclusion of Stage 2 he earned a points-paying 10th place finish. However, on Lap 334 he was too fast on pit road and received a speeding penalty.
“It was what we were trying to do all day and I just got going a little too quick out of the box,” said Kahne. “That put us back a little bit, but I think we finished about where we were.”
Overall, Kahne felt good about the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS team's progress and looks forward to making even more improvements.
“We were really close, just needed a little more forward drive,” he said. “But I think we ended about as good as I felt throughout the race.”