DAWSONVILLE, Ga. (February 4, 2009) – Chase Elliott headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway’s (Hampton, Ga.) one-mile road course looking to put his last race behind him and regain the lead in the championship point standings.  Everything was going Elliott’s way as he led every lap in the combined Semi-Pro/Pro/Masters Legends Feature and posted the fastest lap of all Legends drivers in the No. 9 Aaron’s Lucky Dog Dream Machine.  But a controversial post-race disqualification for a last-lap incident stripped Elliott of what would have been his second win of the season.

For the AMS road course events, all Legends divisions are combined in practice with qualifying line-ups determined by practice speeds.  Positions for the feature event are set by finishes in the Legends A, B and C qualifiers. 

After the morning practice session, Elliott was not happy with the Aaron’s Lucky Dog Dream Machine.  The team changed out the starter and a handful of other electrical components, and Elliott barely made it to the grid before he would have been forced to start in the back.  The close-call was worth it, as Elliott raced with Pro driver Will Prance on the final lap to finish second in the Legends A qualifier. 

In the Legends Main event, Elliott jumped out in front of Prance at the start to lead the first lap.  An early race caution brought the field back together, but Elliott maintained his lead on the re-start, ahead of Daniel McIntosh and Plott (both Semi-Pro drivers).  Elliott continued to lead the 25-car combined Legends field without much pressure until the final lap.

Elliott and Plott were racing for the win as they approached lapped cars on the final lap.  Race officials did not radio to the lap cars to yield to the leaders as they raced to the checkered flag.  Plott went to the inside of Elliott and when Elliott crossed him back over they were in a three wide race, including one lap car, with Elliott partly in the grass.  Racing hard back to the checkered flag Elliott made contact with Plott and sent him spinning. 

“The four car passed me and I was making a hard charge coming up off the corner and got loose, I was racing as hard as I knew how,” Elliott said after the race.  “I was hoping that my momentum would put me across the finish a nose in front of him, not that he would go spinning.  I led every lap until the lapped cars got in our way.  Did they just want me to let him go?  They knew I would race him as hard as I could.”

The Aaron’s Lucky Dog Dream Machine crossed the finish line in first, but race officials disqualified Elliott for “rough driving”, handing the win to Plott and ending any chance Elliott had of winning his first Semi-Pro championship.

The call to disqualify Elliott obviously did not sit well with the team.  Note: In the Legends A Main, a similar incident occurred right in front of the field and in front of Elliott and the “rough driver” was only given a warning.  Elliott’s parents, who would not tolerate spiteful behavior on or off the track, would not have expected the young driver to do anything different on the last lap.  They are looking to put the incident behind them as they realize that any racing at this level is only a tool for young drivers to learn the fundamentals of how to race.  Stay tuned for a major announcement regarding Elliott’s future in racing.

Chase Elliott is sponsored by Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership, the Bill Elliott Driver Development program, the Dawsonville Pool Room, VP Racing Fuels, Racing Electronics, Oakley, and Bell Helmets.

Continue to follow Chase Elliott and the Bill Elliott Racing team at www.BillElliott.com.