HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Elliott does not show emotion often, but the exhilaration he showed in winning Sunday night at Atlanta indicated that this win was a highlight among his 20 NASCAR Cup Series victories.
Elliott wasn’t the only one excited.
Having grown up and still living 85 miles from the track, Elliott remains NASCAR’s most popular driver and one of Georgia’s favorite sons when it comes to athletes.
Chase Elliott celebrates following the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400
That was most evident in the roar of the crowd as they cheered his triumph.
“To see them that excited after the race for me was just crazy,” Elliott said. “It was surreal. I don’t really know how else to describe it. It’s just one of those moments you wish you could bottle up and relive it.”
Elliott hasn’t had much of a chance to experience victory celebrations in recent years.
The 2020 Cup champion snapped a 44-race winless streak with the win. Not only had he not won a race this year, he had not even won a stage. In his previous 99 starts, Elliott had managed just one victory.
So while he had five top fives and nine top 10s in 17 races coming into Sunday night, Elliott’s solid-but-no-trophy season had the vibe of more pretender than contender.
Chase Elliott celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400
The victory Saturday night maybe changed all that. He won a wild race where only 21 drivers finished on the lead lap and 12 of the 40 cars were eliminated by accidents.
The racing at Atlanta, a 1.54-mile high-banked track, is supposed to be the same style as Daytona and Talladega. But drivers could often make runs even without help. Now when they had help, the run was virtually unstoppable.
The runs at the end were furious, and one of the best in this style of racing, Brad Keselowski, was out front in the final laps. But Elliott, with the help of a push from Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman, got out front and then Keselowski had no help as Bowman certainly wasn’t going to push Keselowski past his teammate.
“All the cards fell on the right places there those last couple laps,” Elliott said. “What a crazy race. … It was wild from my seat. I’m so glad we got to run that thing out there to the end.”
Elliott probably wouldn’t have won without the push he could rely on from a teammate such as Bowman.
“I didn’t really have a choice there on the last lap of what I was going to do,” Bowman said. “There wasn’t an opportunity for me to win the race, unfortunately. The way the race would shuffle the leader out every handful of laps, I just led too early there. … I just got the timing wrong and didn’t maintain control the race.”
For Bowman, having Elliott win the race was better than the other drivers, as Bowman is on the bubble to make the playoffs on points. Elliott was a winless driver but seemed to be in a comfortable position as far as points.
But the rest of the drivers jockeying for the win — Brad Keselowski was second, followed by Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Zane Smith — could have impacted Bowman’s hopes to make the playoffs.
“I didn’t think about that, but you’re not wrong,” Bowman said about Elliott’s win being good for him personally. “Obviously, it’s a team of us [Hendrick drivers] out here, so having a Hendrick car in victory lane is always a good thing.
Alex Bowman puts on heat shields prior to the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400
Obviously, it was a good thing for Elliott, who could take pride in winning the wild race but as he noted, he will take wins any way he can get them.
“Just to win a race is nice in general,” Elliott said. I’m not going to get picky with whether it’s wild or boring. It was nice to come out on the good of that. It could have been one of five or six of us at the end.
“For me, fortunately, the runs just really timed up at the perfect time, and we were able to do something with them.”
Elliott has had up-and-down results at Atlanta, with only one top-10 finish in his four starts since a win in July 2022. He has not run well when he has sported a paint scheme designed by a patient of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta as part of a fund-raising program by his foundation.
So that just made a special night extra special.
It was a special night in the making over the last couple of months. A bad pit stop at Kansas ruined his chance in that race in early May. In the previous two weeks, he finished third at Mexico City and fifth at Pocono, where he showed more speed.
Elliott doesn’t get so absorbed in the results as much as the process and the way they race, regardless of what happens with the results.
“Were we relevant? Did we actually a shot? I believe in this sport, if you’re doing all those right things, that’s something to be proud of,” Elliott said. “And if you’re doing them regularly, you’re going to get your turn. The last three or four weeks have been an example of that.”
And how will Elliott celebrate in the wee hours of Sunday morning after he satisfied his media obligations? He planned to drive himself home.
“It’s not that far,” said Elliott, who should be able to make the trip in about two hours. “I’m going to sleep in my bed.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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