ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Chase Elliott picked up right where he left off on Saturday at Road America.
Fresh off a win at Nashville Superspeedway, Elliott nabbed the pole position for Sunday’s 250-mile race at the Wisconsin road course. The 26-year-old driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 put down a fast lap of 108.407 mph in the final round of qualifying. The pole is his second of the season and 11th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. It is also the fourth pole in the last five road course races with qualifying for Hendrick Motorsports.
The Dawsonville, Georgia, native is also the defending race winner at the 14-turn, 4.048-mile venue. Coming from 34th last year, Elliott led the final 17 circuits to take the checkered flag in the Fourth of July here last year.
"Hopefully the results are the same tomorrow as they were last year," Elliott said. "That’s what’s important. Just appreciate everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, from the engine shop to every department that has a hand in what we do to make our NAPA Chevy what it was today.
"It would be nice to keep track position as long as we can. That’s always a tough thing at road courses, to manage that balance of what to do at what time. We’ll see, but we’re looking forward to it, for sure."
Elliott will have two of his teammates starting with him in the top 10. Kyle Larson will line up third in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The Elk Grove, California, native won three road courses last year and will start on the pole in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.
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Alex Bowman will take the grid from the eighth spot in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. This will be his ninth top-10 starting spot of the season. His best road course result was a runner-up finish earlier this year at Circuit of The Americas.
"A lot of things can happen at these road course races," Bowman said. "There’s a lot of strategy involved. Our No. 48 Ally Chevy is a lot better than eighth, so we’re looking forward to it."
The No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of William Byron will start 29th in Sunday’s field. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native went off course during his first run and later returned to make another attempt, but was unable to advance to the final round of group qualifying.
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In practice, Larson finished fifth to top the board for the Hendrick Motorsports squad. Despite spinning in “the kink” section - turn 11 - of the track in the final minutes of his practice session, he did not make contact and was able to continue on.
Entering Sunday’s race, Hendrick Motorsports has tallied 25 wins on circuits that turn left and right and won 29 percent (25 of 87) of the road course races its competed in. Elliott’s seven road courses wins are the most among active drivers and the third-most in the sport’s history.
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Tune in for the 250-mile Cup Series race from Road America on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.