5 Atlanta takeaways for fifth-place finisher Chase Elliott

By Tom Jensen
Published

Like every driver other than race-winner Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott left the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with some degree of frustration.

Elliott once again had a fast No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, running second to Kevin Harvick for much of the race. Harvick led 292 of the first 311 laps, before a pit-road speeding penalty on the final stop relegated him to a ninth-place finish, while Keselowski passed Kyle Larson with seven laps to go to win.

Atlanta is Georgia native Elliott’s home track and he would have loved to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race here. Instead, he finished a solid fifth — very good, but not what he wanted.

Here are five things to know about Elliott’s race:

He earned points in both stages

In the first 85-lap stage of the race, Elliott finished third, earning 8 points. In the second stage, which was also 85 laps, Elliott was even better, finished second behind Harvick. That was worth 9 points.

A learning experience

Elliott said he learned a lot watching Harvick dominate. “I don’t think Kevin’s car was any better than ours,” Elliott said.  “I think he was just doing a little better job driving than I was and being consistent and doing a good job around the bottom and conserving his tires and still running fast.  Something for me to try to improve on coming back.”

Last pit stop

When the field pitted after a caution of Lap 311 of the 325-lap race, Elliott was running second, but he restarted in fifth, which was too big an obstacle to overcome. “The biggest thing is just seeing him (Harvick) have a struggle there at the end and us running second to him all day all the way up to the very end is pretty frustrating,” said Elliott.

Top fives

In 43 career Cup races, Elliott now has 11 top-five finishes, meaning he’s finished in the top five in more than 25 percent of his starts. Given his level of experience, that’s an excellent number.

Points

After the first two points races of the 2017 season, Elliott sits a solid fourth in the Cup driver standings with 82 points. He trails only Kevin Harvick (90), Kurt Busch (86) and Brad Keselowski (84). That puts Elliott way ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne (ninth, 63 points), Jimmie Johnson (32nd, 24) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (33rd, 20).