Saturday
Chase Elliott and Brennan Poole Conquer ‘The Rock’ in Carolina 200
Press Release
The 15-year-old Elliott took the lead during the fifth and final caution flag when the first- and second-place cars driven by J.P. Morgan and Brad Rogers, respectively, pitted for fresh tires with less than 20 laps remaining in the 150-lap USAR Pro Cup event. The son of 1988 NASCAR Cup champion Bill Elliott, who was third when the yellow flag waved, said his team was out of tires, so pitting during the caution period wasn’t an option.
“That was our fault for using them [the tires] up yesterday,” Elliott said after winning his first Pro Cup Series race and his second at the 1-mile track. “There was a chance we could hold them off even though we had a few more laps on our tires. Those guys sitting on their tires overnight may have hurt them a little bit.”
When the race restarted on lap 130, Elliott was leading with Caleb Holman second, Rogers third, Morgan fourth and Bryan Silas fifth. Rogers quickly dispensed with Holman, who was on old tires, when the green flag waved and set his sites on Elliott. With the laps winding down, Rogers, the younger brother of four-time USAR Pro Cup champion Clay Rogers, began closing on Elliott. However, with three laps remaining, Rogers bobbled in turn one and Elliott pulled away.
“I thought the tires were going to be a little bit bigger issue,” Rogers said. “He was awful fast there for not coming to get tires with me and J.P. right there at the end.
“He [Elliott] held a pretty wheel, man. He didn’t screw up when I was able to get to him on that lapped traffic. I had a run on him on the front straightaway, but Chase is a good dude and he’s got a bright future ahead of him. I’m sure we’ll be racing again in the future, hopefully.”
Rounding out the top 5 in the USAR Pro Cup race, respectively, were Morgan, Silas and A.J. Frank.
In the UARA event, Ronnie Bassett Jr. started on the outside of the front row and grabbed the lead immediately. He held the top position until lap 26 of the 75-lap race when Poole emerged the leader in a three-wide battle with Bassett and Paddy Rodenbeck as they raced into turn 3.
“We were right behind him [Bassett] for a little while,” said Poole, who has won three of the season’s first four races. “I was just trying to ride, but Rodenbeck had a really good car today and he was ready to go to the outside of the No. 04 [Bassett] car. Paddy tucked up behind the No. 04 and he got real loose coming out of the corner and it scared me half to death. Going down the back straightaway, Paddy made it three wide and made it a little more interesting. We were able to keep the momentum on the high side.
“We ran side-by-side with him [Rodenbeck] a few times. He gave us a bunch of room and I tried to give him as much room as I could. Usually, hanging up top really helps your momentum and it helped us stay out front.”
A brief red flag with less than 10 laps remaining due to a fire in Kyle Hall’s car after he slammed the fourth-turn wall gave Rodenbeck, Grissom and Bassett one less shot at Poole when the race returned to green flag conditions with seven laps to go. Poole, however, was too strong for his challengers.
The USAR Pro Cup and UARA series return to Rockingham Speedway Nov. 4-5 for their championship weekend.
- Rockingham Speedway Press Release
Article Tags: Advantage Construction Equipment and Parts Carolina 200 presented by Black's Tire and Auto Service, Bill Elliott, Brad Rogers, Bryan Silas, Caleb Holman, Chase Elliott, J.P. Morgan, Kyle Grissom, Kyle Hall, Paddy Rodenbeck, Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, Ronnie Bassett Jr., UARA Stars Series, USARacing Pro Cup Series
