In his Daytona 500 debut, Elliott won the pole with a speed of 196.314 miles per hour (315.937 km/h). At the age of 20, he became the youngest pole-sitter in 500 history. Elliott led three laps in the race, but on lap 18, spun exiting turn four and slid into the grass, damaging the front of the car. Elliott returned to the race on lap 59, 40 laps down, and finished 37th. The next week he finished 8th at Atlanta for his first Sprint Cup top-ten finish. The following week, at Las Vegas, Elliott showed a strong car all day and even had his car inside the top-five with 40 laps to go, but crashed and finished 38th. Elliott picked up more top tens during the spring, finishing 5th at Texas for his first career Top-5, 4th at Bristol, 5th at Talladega, 9th at Kansas, 3rd at Dover, 8th in the Coca-Cola 600, and a career best 2nd at Michigan. At Pocono for the running of the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400, Elliott would have his breakout race of his Sprint Cup career, Elliott would start 13th and later get the lead in the race and he would lead a race high of 51 laps, leading the most laps in a Sprint Cup race for the first time in his career. On a restart, Elliott would lose the lead and the race came down to fuel mileage but the fuel would hold and he would finish 4th. At Michigan in June, Elliott finished second after he missed a shift in the lead. He won the fan vote to advance into the All-Star Race along with Danica Patrick where he finished a respectable 7th after nearly winning the final segment of the Sprint Showdown, losing to Kyle Larson in a photo finish. Fifteen races into his rookie season, he sat 6th in the standings, the highest without a victory, with two poles for the Daytona 500 and at Talladega, six Top-5s and eleven Top-10s. Two weeks later at Sonoma, Elliott started 16th, but would ultimately finish 21st.
Chase Elliott Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family
|
