NASCAR

No Place Like Home: Chase Elliott Raring To Get To Atlanta Motor Speedway After Disappointing Daytona 500

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By
Jared Turner
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Jared Turner Sports Editor

Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.

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Published21 Feb 2025

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Chase Elliott smiling

Last weekend’s Daytona 500, the official kickoff to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, didn’t go as Chase Elliott wanted.

While the outcome couldn’t have been any more favorable to Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who captured his second consecutive win in The Great American Race, Elliott was an afterthought in the final analysis.

After leading just two laps, he finished 15th in this No. 9 Chevrolet — next to last among the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers in the field.

The good news for NASCAR’s perennial most popular driver?

Race No. 2 on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. That’s not far at all from Dawsonville, Georgia, where Elliott grew up and still calls home. The second-generation wheelman who is the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott also owns a win at AMS, which makes his affinity for the 1.54-mile track that much stronger.

Chase Elliott Is All About The Current Style Of Racing At Atlanta Motor Speedway

Elliott has a mixed history at AMS, home or not. That history features the aforementioned victory, which came from the pole in 2022, but just two top-five finishes in 12 NASCAR Cup Series starts. Elliott loves Atlanta for more than his results there and the track’s proximity to home, however.

He’s also a fan of the exciting, close-quarters style of racing the track has produced since taking on a more superspeedway-like configuration ahead of the 2022 season. Almost all of the races since have ended in nailbiter finishes, with the closest yet coming one year ago this weekend when Daniel Suarez nipped Ryan Blaney by .003 seconds at the checkered flag in a three-wide battle that also involved Kyle Busch.

Suarez’s margin of victory at Atlanta in February 2024 currently stands as the fourth smallest in NASCAR Cup Series history. Elliott, meanwhile, is tied for the fourth-most top-10s (three) at the track since its reconfiguration, and he’s fourth in laps led (125).

“It is my home track,” said Elliott, who boasts the second-best average running position (10.53) and the third-best average finish (8.6) since the Atlanta reconfiguration. “I always look forward to racing there. I’m really happy that we have two dates at Atlanta. It’s a track that made a large investment to try and improve their product. I think they have successfully created a lot of chatter down there around the race track and around the events.

“And I hear it and I see it firsthand. I don’t typically see and feel that firsthand from other race tracks. But being from around the area, you run into people that went to the race, and they’re like, ‘Man, that was awesome.’ … So, I think that the track’s investment has ultimately paid off.”

Chase Elliott’s Ties To Atlanta Motor Speedway Run Even Deeper Than Meets The Eye

Truth be told, Elliott loved Atlanta Motor Speedway long before speedway officials reconfigured the track a few years ago. That’s because the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s history on the AMS property predates his time in the sport.

“I spent a good chunk of my childhood summers down there racing on Thursday nights,” Elliott said. “Racing Bandoleros and Legend cars was a lot of fun. At that point in time, you’re running around there on the quarter-mile hoping one day you have a chance to race on ‘the big track.’

“I think a combination of those memories and those summer nights, along with being able to capture a Cup Series win there, make it pretty memorable for me. Hopefully, we can add to that.”

AMS, which lost one of its two longstanding NASCAR Cup Series dates in 2011, regained a second date in 2021. The track, located less than 45 minutes from downtown Atlanta, has hosted two annual Cup Series races ever since. Elliott, understandably, couldn’t be happier about AMS being the site of two annual NASCAR Cup Series events for the foreseeable future.

“Selfishly, I think it’s great that they have two races, because I don’t have to go as far to go to the track, which is great,” Elliott said, alluding to his home just down the road in Dawsonville. “But in all seriousness, I do think it is a good thing that they have two races, and it’s resulted in some great finishes for our sport. I hope we can continue to put on the good racing that it has been over the last two or three trips or more now.”