Elliott ran robust all through Sunday’s race and a late-race wreck despatched up an extra time restart that put Elliott alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate and chief William Byron on the entrance row.
When the race resumed. Elliott acquired close to Byron and gave his No. 24 Chevrolet a shot from behind, however Byron remained unfazed and cleared for the lead off Flip 2. He then held off a late problem by fellow teammate Kyle Larson to earn his third win of the season.
Elliott ended up third – his greatest results of the 12 months – and a part of a Hendrick 1-2-3 end, a primary by any group on the Virginia brief observe.
The win got here on the fortieth anniversary of the group’s first Cup win by Geoffrey Bodine, which additionally befell at Martinsville. Almost 1,500 Hendrick workers, family and friends members have been available for the milestone race.
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, UniFirst Ruby Chevrolet Camaro
Picture by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
“Second or third, what does it matter? Yeah, clearly No. 1 congrats to William and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” Elliott stated. “Rick and Linda, all of the folks that put this collectively for us. They’ve an unbelievable program. I feel we’re all proud to name it residence.
“It was superior internet hosting over a thousand of us from Hendrick in the present day, workers and their households. Glad one in every of us might get it carried out.
“Clearly, I want we might have gotten it carried out, selfishly like anyone would.”
Elliott has had a sluggish begin to the 2024 season, coming off final season when he missed 5 races and didn’t qualify for the playoffs for the primary time in his Cup profession. He’s immersed in a 42-race winless streak as his most up-to-date victory got here at Talladega within the fall of the 2022 season.
Over the past weeks, nonetheless, Elliott and his No. 9 Chevrolet group have been way more aggressive. He completed fifth final weekend at Richmond and led 64 laps – a season excessive – on his strategy to his third-place end Sunday.
“Good to have a pair stable weeks, to be in rivalry there for a win. Haven’t been in rivalry to win one shortly,” Elliott stated. “It was enjoyable to sort of get to that final restart and it truly mattered. Loved that side. Actually hungry for extra.
“I really feel like all through a whole lot of the season this 12 months, we’ve been working in a superb course, working actually good collectively. Pit stops have been actually good. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) has been calling actually good races.
“All that stuff has been entering into a extremely optimistic course, for my part. I feel if we will simply preserve producing that, we’ll get our flip in the future.”
