CONCORD, N.C. -- Chase Elliott will return to his hometown track this weekend to try and become the second Georgia-born driver to take the checkered flag at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The Dawsonville, Georgia, native has a special place in his heart for Atlanta Motor Speedway and appreciates how difficult the track can be. Elliott said the balance between running his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE hard and preserving tires is the toughest thing about the track.
“You know, Cup racing at Atlanta and kind of the way it has evolved, you are saving, but you are also not,” Elliott said. “It’s really more about having your car driving really good so that you can push hard and not slip tires and that has really become the game, I feel like. It’s not as much riding around and just kind of biding your time and waiting for the last 15-20 laps of a run because you can’t make up those big chunks of time at the end of a run like you maybe could years ago. Nowadays, it’s just hard to do.”
Elliott’s track record at Atlanta still is impressive. In six NASCAR Cup Series starts in the Peach State, he has posted one top-five finish and four top-10s. While Elliott will have momentum going to the track this weekend off his dominating win at Road America on July 4, the reigning Cup Series champion said seeing friendly faces at his hometown track is what is going to excite him the most this weekend.
“To me, the big one is how good the crowds have been in the grandstands and in the camping areas,” Elliott said of fans returning to the tracks recently. “Pocono, I’m not sure I’ve ever, in my time racing there, personally … I have not seen it that busy and that many people there, especially camping. I thought that was really cool and the overhead shots of the track, it was packed out and people were excited to be there.
“We hope everyone enjoyed their time and want to come back next year, is kind of how I look at it. That’s all we can hope for every week, just try to put on a good show. When you have a great crowd, you feel like you have a responsibility to treat the crowd properly.”
The grandstands will be packed for Sunday’s race, which would give Elliott a perfect opportunity to follow in his father, Hall of Famer Bill Elliott’s footsteps, as the only native Georgians to win a Cup race at Atlanta. Given his rich history in racing, becoming the 2020 Cup champion and earning NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award three years in a row, Elliott said those important accolades and moments are wonderful, but added he isn’t letting it change who he is.
“I can’t say that I feel any different today, personally, than I did a year ago at this time,” Elliott said. Obviously, a great season last year and whatnot, but I don’t necessarily feel like that changes who I am. I still view things the same and still think about things the same, so for me it hasn’t really changed a ton. And heck, I don’t know, maybe, but I haven’t really figured out what that is. I just continue to be myself and carry myself as I feel like is appropriate and at the end of the day. That’s really all that matters.”
Elliott and the rest of the Cup Series will take on the notoriously unpaved track at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.