TALLADEGA — On Sunday, Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Night Vision Chevrolet, part of the Hendrick Motorsports stable, will lead the field to the green flag for the 51st running of the fall premiere series 1000Bulbs.com 500 held at Talladega Superspeedway.
Elliott, the winner of the NASCAR Monster Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega and a perennial fan favorite, locked down the Busch Pole Award with a lap speed of 192.707 mph. It is Elliott’s eighth career pole position and second at Talladega Superspeedway.
“In general, I feel like as a company at Hendrick, we’ve done a great job in the time I’ve been there,” Elliott said about his team’s effort that led to the pole award. “And we just continue to put emphasis on the speedways and put emphasis on things that take time, might not be worth a whole lot but make you go faster on qualifying day.”
“You know, some of the small stuff may or may not help you when it comes to being in the draft,” he continued. “I like to think it does. I like to think a lot of the small things add up. And you know, if you just have a little bit of an advantage somewhere, it might help you somewhere. I would rather have it than not, and our team is the type of team that continues to put emphasis on these places and doesn’t overlook them.”
Elliott touted his chances for a victory on Sunday but expected “gamesmanship” to develop between the series’ manufacturers as the race unfolds.
“Number one, our car has pace, which is a good thing,” Elliott said. “Typically in these races, cars that have pace tend to kind of set the standard are able to do some things that if your car didn’t have pace. I’d much rather have it on my side than not. Can you still win without those little extras things here and there? Yes, but I do think it is a good thing to have if you do, and I feel like our car does. Hopefully, our car drives well tomorrow, and I’m sure as we start the race, we’ll see some gamesmanship being played among the manufacturers. I’m sure that will form up very quickly.”
Joining Elliott on the front row is Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman, followed by two more Hendrick teammates — William Byron and Jimmie Johnson.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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