RICHMOND, Va. – A new paint scheme, the same speed for Chase Elliott.
Driving a red, No. 9 Coca-Cola Chevrolet this week, Elliott led the Hendrick Motorsports stable in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Richmond on Saturday evening and will start fourth in Sunday night’s 400-lap main event.
Elliott has finished in the top five in four of the last seven events at the 0.75-mile short track and his average finish of 8.8 in six starts in the Gen-7 era is best among Hendrick Motorsports' current drivers. The 28-year-old native of Dawsonville, Georgia, currently sits second in the Cup Series points standings, just 10 points behind teammate Kyle Larson.
“This place is so weird, just the feel in the car and what it equates to in lap time don’t ever seem like they go together or make sense,” Elliott said after his first lap in Group A proved enough to advance to the final round of qualifying. “I thought our Coca-Cola Chevy –- kinda weird to say, haven't gotten used to that, but cheers to everybody who’s drinking a Coke -- but we’ll see.”
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The rest of the Hendrick Motorsports contingent -- William Byron, Alex Bowman and Larson -- all ran their laps in Group B and finished in consecutive order, just missing out on advancing to the final round. Byron, piloting the No. 24 Valvoline Chevy, will roll off 13th. He has three top 10s in seven starts at Richmond since the beginning of 2021.
Larson will start 15th and was shooting for his fourth-straight, short-track pole, which would’ve matched a record set by Geoff Bodine in 1985 and 1986. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy will be in search of his third win in the Virginia capital and second as a member of Hendrick Motorsports.
Bowman, in his No. 48 Ally Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will look to continue on a banner year that already includes 12 top-10 showings and three top-10 finishes in his last four short-track starts. He is also a former winner at Richmond, claiming the spring race in 2021.
For the first time in a points-paying race, Sunday night’s race will feature two types of rubber with teams being given six sets of “prime” tires and two sets of “option” tires. Prime tires are the normal compound given by Goodyear while option sets are softer and should provide better short-run speed but more significant fall off on long runs.
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Prior to qualifying on Saturday, teams were able to experiment with both during practice. Lessons learned during the session and potential strategy for Sunday were the big talking points.
“I think we put some good adjustments in the car and the tire, hopefully it will be a double positive,” Larson said. “It will be fun to see how the teams strategize.”
Hendrick Motorsports has visited victory lane 12 times at Richmond and has held the top two positions in the point standings for the last seven weeks.
Coverage is set to start at 6 p.m. on USA Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90) on Sunday.
