NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Chase Elliott will compete in race No. 17 of 33 in the NASCAR Nationwide schedule this Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, officially marking the halfway point of his rookie season.
Up to this point Elliott has performed exceptionally well. Through 16 races he has two victories, seven top-5s and 11 top-10s. He also has led 120 laps and completed all but 26 of the 2,784 laps in the Nationwide Series, good for a 99% lap completion. In early April he took over the lead in the point standings – a position he held for five consecutive weeks – making him the youngest driver to lead in the Nationwide Series.
Elliott and the NAPA team enter the New Hampshire weekend third in the standings, 15 points behind leader Regan Smith, his teammate, and just three points behind second-place Elliott Sadler. Fellow rookie Ty Dillon, who is just 17 points behind Elliott, could factor into the championship picture as well as the series heads into a pivotal stretch of summer races. NAPA crew chief Greg Ives is all too familiar with the pressures that come with the second-half grind. He won five championships in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as the engineer on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a one-mile oval, which Elliott has made three K&N Pro Series East starts at. His average start there is 10.6 with an average finish of 8.6. The Sta-Green 200 begins at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Elliott enters the weekend leading the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings with a 37-point advantage over Dillon.
JR Motorsports PR
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