Chase Elliott claims coveted hometown NASCAR victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway

HAMPTON — Chase Elliott led 96 laps and won the first two stages of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday, but it still came down to the final two laps.

With three laps to go, Corey LaJoie led on a restart coming out of a caution, then with two laps to go, Elliott claimed the lead.

Elliott held onto the lead with one lap to go with LaJoie running second. LaJoie got a push from Eric Jones and ran into the wall, also taking out Kurt Busch, Cole Custer and Harrison Burton.

Then the Dawsonville native crossed the finish line ahead of Ross Chastain to take his third win of the year and his first at his home track.

“To win at your home track is a really big deal when you’re a racecar driver,” Elliott said. “We haven’t had a really good run here so I felt like today it was a good opportunity for us. I’m so proud, obviously home to me, home to a lot of fans who made a lot of noise. I couldn’t be more proud of our team. I don’t know if we have had a speedway car that good, if we did I probably wrecked it down at Daytona.”

Elliott and LaJoie had some battles earlier with about 60 laps left as the two swapped the lead several times.

A caution came out at lap 189 and LaJoie was first off pit road to lead the race.

At lap 202, Elliott passed LaJoie, but LaJoie reclaimed the lead on the very next lap. At lap 205, Elliott once again took the lead from LaJoie.

Going into the final two laps, Elliott knew he was going to have a hard push from LaJoie.

“I knew he was going to have a big run,” Elliott said of the final two laps of the race.

Ross Chastain finished second, Austin Cindric third, Erik Jones fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer and Harrison Burton. LaJoie finished 21st.

It was Elliott’s second win in three races as he won June 26 at Nashville and was second last week at Road America.

“What a few weeks it’s been,” he said.

NASCAR Cup Series Race — 53rd Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Hampton, Georgia

Sunday, July 10, 2022

1. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 260.

2. (2) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 260.

3. (5) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 260.

4. (25) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 260.

5. (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 260.

6. (7) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 260.

7. (24) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 260.

8. (22) Aric Almirola, Ford, 260.

9. (18) Cole Custer, Ford, 260.

10. (27) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 260.

11. (9) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 260.

12. (10) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 260.

13. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 260.

14. (32) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 260.

15. (12) Michael McDowell, Ford, 260.

16. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 260.

17. (28) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 260.

18. (31) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 260.

19. (15) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 260.

20. (19) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 260.

21. (30) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 260.

22. (21) Kurt Busch, Toyota, Accident, 259.

23. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 259.

24. (36) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 259.

25. (16) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 259.

26. (17) Joey Logano, Ford, DVP, 252.

27. (33) Garrett Smithley(i), Ford, 252.

28. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, DVP, 174.

29. (4) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, Accident, 170.

30. (13) William Byron, Chevrolet, Accident, 170.

31. (20) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Engine, 162.

32. (8) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, DVP, 160.

33. (11) Chris Buescher, Ford, Accident, 107.

34. (29) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 91.

35. (26) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 90.

36. (35) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, Accident, 77.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 118.754 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 22 Mins, 18 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags: 13 for 64 laps.

Lead Changes: 27 among 12 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Chastain 1;C. Elliott 2;R. Chastain 3-21;D. Hamlin 22-23;R. Blaney 24;C. Elliott 25-50;R. Blaney 51;C. Elliott 52-63;T. Reddick 64-69;M. Truex Jr. 70-86;C. Elliott 87-94;H. Burton # 95-98;R. Stenhouse Jr. 99-100;H. Burton # 101-105;W. Byron 106-146;T. Reddick 147-153;C. Elliott 154-162;A. Cindric # 163-169;E. Jones 170-179;R. Chastain 180-191;C. LaJoie 192-201;C. Elliott 202;C. LaJoie 203-204;C. Elliott 205-241;M. Truex Jr. 242-251;C. LaJoie 252-258;C. Elliott 259-260.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chase Elliott 8 times for 96 laps; William Byron 1 time for 41 laps; Ross Chastain 3 times for 32 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 27 laps; Corey LaJoie 3 times for 19 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 13 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 10 laps; Harrison Burton # 2 times for 9 laps; Austin Cindric # 1 time for 7 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 2 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 2 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,48,1,12,24,18,45,11,5,20

Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,8,6,12,45,20,21,24,1,7