HAMPTON, Ga. — As NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott always has a lot of people cheering for him at the track – and that’s especially true at his home track: Atlanta Motor Speedway.
As a 19-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series and a former champion, the Dawsonville native has certainly provided Georgia racing fans plenty to cheer about. Lately, Elliott says, his home track in Hampton has been doing the same.
“I always look forward to racing there. I’m really happy that we have two dates at Atlanta,” Elliott said. “I think that it’s a track that made a large investment to improve their product and I think that they have successfully created a lot of chatter down there around the racetrack and around the events.
“I hear it and I see it first-hand, which I don’t typically see and feel that first-hand from other racetracks, but being around the area you run into people that went and they’re like, ‘Man, that was awesome!’”
Elliott kicked off his 10th full-time season of racing in the sport’s top series with a win at Bowman Gray Stadium in the Clash earlier this month. He followed that up with a 15th place effort in the Daytona 500. Entering the second points-paying race of the season, Elliott is hoping to not only add a playoff-berth securing win, but also another cherished memory at AMS.
“I spent a good chunk of my childhood summers down there racing on Thursday nights. Thursday Thunder was a big deal throughout the course of my upbringing and my path to NASCAR,” recalled Elliott. “Racing bandoleros and Legend cars was a lot of fun. At that point in time you’re running around there on the ¼-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 with being able to capture that first win there (in 2022) – I think those two things together make it pretty memorable for me.
“Hopefully we can add to that.”
