NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, heads to the Bowman Gray Stadium this weekend with pretty much the same cluelessness as his competitors despite having raced there previously. He competed at the short track back when he was a driver in the K&N Pro Series East. However, he does not believe that the experience will lend him a hand after all these years.
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He told Fox Sports, “It’s been so long since I have been there. Yeah, those K&N races were years ago. I really don’t think that is going to help … Having a little bit of time here, in my opinion, is going to mean a lot more than my race at Bowman Gray. That was, however, many years ago, 15 years ago.”
Elliott raced at Bowman Gray in 2011 and 2012. He finished 18th in his maiden appearance and in sixth place the second time around. Interestingly, he drove the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports at the time as well. The K&N Pro Series East raced at the track between 2011 and 2015. So, it isn’t just Elliott who has the experience on it.
The East Series raced at Bowman Gray from 2011-15 so several Cup drivers do have experience racing there. Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez don’t think that experience will help much for the Clash. Their thoughts: pic.twitter.com/WMPE9ohMRm
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) January 28, 2025
Others, including Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez, do, too. The common opinion from them all is that their previous experiences will not help them. Elliott continued to note how similar the upcoming race will be to the Clashes that were held at the L.A. Coliseum in the last few years.
He said, “I know it’s going to be different for sure. But I do think there will be some similarities and… Just a track of that size and how quickly things happen. How quickly the corners come up on you.” His crew chief, Alan Gustafson, expressed a similar take in a recent interview with hendrickmotorsports.com.
Gustafson admits having little knowledge about the nature of Bowman Gray
The L.A. Coliseum and the Bowman Gray Stadium are similar tracks in many ways. They are of identical length and have the same banking degrees. Gustafson said, with this in mind, “I think setups are going to be very similar just because we don’t have any other knowledge of Bowman Gray … The Coliseum was almost a little more peaked in the corners.”
“The curbing and the paint and all of those little nuances, too, but for us, we’ve just kind of got to go off of our experiences at similar tracks.” It is rather unfortunate that his driver won’t be able to help him a lot with the setup using his experience at the track.
Following yet another mediocre season in 2024, the No. 9 team will look to set off on the right foot this year. Winning the Clash will send a strong message across the field that Elliott won’t be another driver occasionally competing for wins over the next 36 races.
