Chase Elliott continues family tradition with win at Atlanta Motor Speedway

HAMPTON — Chase Elliott is continuing a family tradition at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

By taking first in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400, the Dawsonville native not only won his first race at AMS but joined his father to become the second father-son duo to win at the track (the first were Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.). Chase also became the first Georgia driver since his father to win a Cup race at AMS.

Bill Elliott won five times at AMS; his last two came in 1992 when he won both races at the track.

“Those type things are more than special,” Chase said in a post-race press conference Sunday. “I’m not sure that my dreams really grasped something like that when I was a kid and I wanted to be here. I wanted to be here and I wanted to make it and I wanted to be successful, but I’m not sure I got far enough into it to start thinking about joining Dad on lists like sharing a championship and sharing wins at our home track.

“Those type things are — yeah, they’re something that — me sitting here telling you it’s special I think it’s probably doing it a disservice. It’s something to be very proud of and something I’m very proud of, and I think he is, too.”

Chase added that he was glad to give the hometown fans a victory and he has always appreciated their support.

“I’m just proud to be from here, proud to still live here, and I’m grateful that the fans of this state have always kind of kept me a part of the family really,” he said. “I have always felt like they’ve kind of welcomed me as one of theirs and our team, too. It’s a special thing, and to be able to share that moment, I saw a lot of people before the race wearing our hat and our shirts and stuff, and you always want to make those people proud, but when you have it go our way like it did today, that was pretty cool. They were making a lot of noise there after the race, which it’s kind of hard for me to see what’s going on there during the race, but certainly after they weren’t shy, and I loved it.”

During the race on Sunday, there were broadcasts on USA throughout the day from the Dawsonville Pool Room where fans were cheering on their hometown hero.

“The tradition there at the Pool Room and the siren and all that stuff I think is really cool,” Chase said. “Any time you can carry on a tradition that your father had going on from his hometown and for them to still do that for me I think is really neat.”

Chase didn’t know about the plans to broadcast from the Pool Room ahead of time but he was pleasantly surprised when he found out.

“I didn’t realize they were taking a crew up there until earlier today, so that’s pretty cool,” Chase said Sunday after the race. “Obviously great timing. I don’t know who decided that. But that worked out good. The Pirkle family are just good people and huge race fans and genuinely enjoy seeing us have success on the weekends wherever we go ultimately. Happy to share a hometown with them and happy that they have always included me in the excitement of what they enjoy.”

Sunday’s victory was Chase’s third of the year. He led 96 laps and won the first two stages. Even though he dominated much of the race, it still came down to the last laps as he held off a strong run from Corey LaJoie.

“These are the moments you wish you could bottle up and kind of keep, and unfortunately it just doesn’t work like that, moments that are really special and near and dear to your heart like winning at your home track, a place that I’ve spent a ton of time at as a kid racing on the quarter mile down here in Bandoleros and Legends and a lot of trips between here and north Georgia up and down the road,” he said.