The 2023 Pala Casino 400 is scheduled to get underway on Sunday (February 26) at Auto Club Speedway and Chase Elliott is one of the favorites to win on the low-banked, two-mile D-shaped Superspeedway. The #9 Chevrolet driver had a decent record at Fontana, but never won at Auto Club Speedway. Elliot’s 12.17 average finish at the track is third-best among the drivers in field on Sunday.
Heading to Fontana, Chase Elliott is optimistic that he will perform better as he really enjoys racing on the track. He also feels that the two-mile long track is a unique and great place to run.
Speaking to the media before the race, Elliott said:
“I’m really looking forward to kicking off the West Coast tour in Fontana. I really enjoy going out there. The track is unique and it’s just a great place. It’s one of those places you forget about until it shows up on the calendar because you only race there once a year and it’s so early in the season.”
“I felt like we had a pretty good run towards the end of last year, but we didn’t finish with the finish to show it off. Hopefully we can improve on that this weekend.”
Due to inclement weather, the starting lineup for Sunday’s race is set based on the metric. https://t.co/kLile8nqak
Chase Elliott will return to the track this weekend, where he has three top-10 finishes with a best finish of fourth in 2020 and made six Cup Series starts. Last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, The #9 Chevrolet driver had a difficult weekend as he was involved in a multi-car incident on stage two and ultimately forced an early exit from the race.
“Fontana is something special to me” – Chase Elliott Crew Chief
Alan Gustafson, Chase Elliott’s crew chief, returns to the track where he has some special connections. He won his first career pole in the Cup Series, as well as his first Cup Series victory at Auto Club Speedway.
Speaking about his return to the site of his first win as crew chief, Gustafson said:
“Fontana is something special to me. It’s where I got my first win and I really enjoy going there. It’s a really fast track and it’s super unique. It will be interesting this weekend with the weather. Hopefully it holds up and we can get some practice time, but it could be a situation where we start the race on Sunday with no track time.”
Watch Chase Elliott in action at Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023.