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Elliott Maintains Top Five Streak
Back in 1982, NASCAR star Bill Elliott twice tamed the high banks at the track now known as Gresham Motorsports Park in a Ford Mustang. The late Alan Kulwicki piloted a Ford to a victory at GMP as well, joining a list of drivers including Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip who are now Legends in NASCAR. This weekend, Chase Elliott looked to follow these inspiring stars to Victory Lane in his Aaron’s Ford Fusion.
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Instead, he took home second place in the CRA 125 Super Late Model season opener instead. But second-place at the Jefferson track puts him in pretty good company. Richard Petty was the first runner-up in a NASCAR race at Jefferson back in 1968, followed by David Pearson the next year. And Dale Jarrett was the first runner-up at Jefferson in a race in the series now known as Nationwide.
The latest runner-up at Jefferson started his day by topping the speed charts in the first practice session, then qualifying fifth. Augie Grill took the pole with a lap at 111.324 miles per hour, breaking the record of 111.262 mph, set by Elliott in a Pro Late Model last fall in the World Crown 300.
With the rain-shortened schedule, there was no time to spare after qualifying, as CRA officials announced teams would have 15 minutes to get their cars on the line and ready to race, reversing the race schedule order.
The Aaron’s team hustled and was ready for "Gentlemen, start your engines."
Elliott was focused and hitting his marks, and took fourth from T.J. Reaid, who was driving the No. 51 of Kyle Busch Motorsports. By Lap 25, Elliott was hounding his Bill Elliott Racing teammate Casey Roderick for third, and the two got together going into Turn Four. With all of the racing going on behind the leader, Grill had pulled out to a 2.78-second lead over second-place Ryan Lawler, but Elliott had set his sights on Lawler.
"I just knew that if I didn’t get around Lawler that Augie was going to check out on all of us and lap the field," said Elliott. "He [Grill] has his stuff figured out, and he knew what he needed all day."
On Lap 48 Lawler was sent to the pits because of fluid leakage, moving Elliott to second position. With crew chief Ricky Turner and spotter/dad Bill Elliott giving him information on lap times and his line around the track, Elliott held off Reaid pulling away from the third-place contender by three car lengths.
On Lap 118 of 125, the red flag was displayed so officials could determine the source of fluid on the track. Reaid was found to be one of the culprits, and he was sent to the pits, moving Bubba Pollard to third behind Grill and Elliott.
On the restart, Elliott motored away from Pollard, but Grill pulled away for the win while Elliott finished second.
"I am real proud of the team; we have come a long way in this Super Late Model. I can’t thank Aaron’s, Mom, Dad, Ricky Turner and all the guys enough for giving me this opportunity," said Elliott.
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CRA 125 Results 1. Augie Grill
2. Chase Elliott 3. Bubba Pollard 4. Jason Hogan 5. Mike Garvey
6. Scott Hantz 7. Russell Fleeman 8. Jeff Fultz 9. Greg Simpson 10. Cale Gale 11. T.J. Reaid 12. Mason Mingus 13. Joey Senter 14. Ryan Crane 15. Donnie Wilson 16. Johanna Long 17. Allen Karnes 18. Lane Morrow
19. Johnny Henderson 20. Randy Gentry 21. Ryan Lawler 22. Casey Roderick 23. Jimmy Garmon 24. Don Young 25. Scott Smith 26. Johnny VanDoorn
PaddockTalk Perspective
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