Elliott, No. 9 team show resilience throughout season

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season tested Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto
Parts team in a way no other campaign had. Elliott missed time due to injury
but the team showed its mettle and resilience over the year. First, in pulling
together while the 2020 champion was out and then, in advancing through the
owner playoffs to reach the Round of 8.

Elliott notched his first top-five finish of the season in the second race of
the year at Auto Club Speedway. The 27-year-old driverscored a runner-up result

at the 2-mile track after starting from the 33rd position. Before the third
race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native
suffered a fractured tibia in his right leg

in a snowboarding accident. With Elliott sidelined JR Motorsports driver Josh
Berry filled in for five races and IMSA champion and Garage 56 reserve
driver/coach Jordan Taylor was behind the wheel at Circuit of The Americas.
Berry’s runner-up finish

at Richmond Raceway in April stood as the best finish for the team while
Elliott was out and the best finish of Berry’s Cup career.

Elliott returned to the car after missing six races. In his first race back at
Martinsville Speedway,he notched a top-10 finish

. The following week at Talladega Superspeedway he scored a stage win. That
Talladega race also marked the 650th Cup Series start for crew chief Alan
Gustafson. The team scored five consecutive top-12 finishes from Martinsville
to a third-place run at Darlington Raceway in a push toward the playoffs. After
Corey LaJoie filled in at WWT Raceway, Elliott rattled off three straight
top-five finishes – fifth at Sonoma Raceway, fourth at Nashville Superspeedway
and third at the Chicago Street Course.

As the summer drew on, Elliott was faced with a must-win scenario to keep his
streak of seven consecutive seasons in the playoffs intact. Hissecond-place
finish
at
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course andfourth-place result

at Daytona International Speedway to close out the regular season were valiant
efforts to try to get to the postseason.

While his points deficit proved to be too much to overcome to reach the driver
playoffs, that was not the case when it came to the owner playoffs. Thanks to
the team’s efforts while he was out with fill-in drivers Berry, Taylor and
LaJoie as well as Elliott’s results when he was back, the No. 9 team was the
16th and final team to make the owner playoffs. The final owner championship
standings help determine the payout for teams, so this is extremely important
to the teams

Although he did not have a yellow banner on his windshield, Elliott put
together an impressive 10-race stretch. With a lack of playoff points to his
name compared to the competition, Elliott and the team relied on consistency to
move on. He opened the owner playoffs with five top-10 results in the first six
races to advance to the Round of 8 in the owner title fight. In addition,
Elliott surpassed 5,000 laps led in the Cup Series when he led for 15 laps at
the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in October. Elliott finished the season 17th
in the driver standings and the No. 9 team was 10th in the owner standings.

Off the track, Elliott’s foundation (the Chase Elliott Foundation) continues
its work as a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support and
financial assistance to well-qualified charitable organizations with an
emphasis on helping others live healthier, happier lives. In a collaboration
with Hendrick Motorsports and NAPA Auto Parts, the Chase Elliott Foundation’s
seventh edition of its “DESI9N TO DRIVE”

art initiative with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta took place at Atlanta
Motor Speedway on July 8-9, 2023. Parts of the racing uniform were auctioned
off through The NASCAR Foundation with all proceeds going to the Chase Elliott
Foundation to benefit the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of
Children’s. Additionally, a portion of the sales from each die-cast sold of
this race car is donated to Children’s.