Dawsonville’s Chase Elliott Earns Top-10 Finish In ARCA Debut

IRVINGTON, Ala. – Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, led 22 laps and finished 10th in his ARCA Racing Series debut on Saturday at Mobile International Speedway.

Elliott, who narrowly missed earning the pole position by just 0.008 seconds during Friday’s qualifying session, started Saturday’s event in the second spot. Twenty-nine laps into the race, Elliott passed the lead car on the inside and maintained the lead for 22 laps.

A slow pitstop during a caution dropped him to 19th but he steadily drove his way through the field, climbing as high as third by Lap 76 before falling back.

The remainder of the event included many caution flags, which made it hard for Elliott to work his way back up through the field. But the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet managed to improve four spots during that time and picked up another two during the green-white-checkered finish on Laps 202 and 203.

Next up for Elliott is the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on March 17.