ATYL: 'It's Scary to be in Second' | Chase Elliott Wins Texas

Caution after caution, the top cars in Texas found themselves out of contention for the win.

A treacherous 400 miles of racing, saw 16 cautions during Sunday’s event. Many of these cautions involved several drivers that had great speed heading into the weekend. Unfortunately for several of these competitors, they say their hopes of winning were crushed from second place. Who knew racing for the lead could be so scary?!

However, one of the most consistent cars of the day was able to avoid the calamity and take his No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to victory lane.

Thats right! NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott, is finally back in victory lane breaking a 42-race winless streak.

After claiming the 15th fastest practice time and producing a qualifying effort of P24, it was hard to tell if the No. 9 was even going to be a contender at Texas Motor Speedway. Gambling with strategy, crew chief Alan Gustafson kept his driver on the track longer than his competitors hoping for a caution in the opening Stage. When Jimmie Johnson, in the No. 84 machine, spun around on track to bring out the first caution, their wish was granted. With a masterful call by Gustafson, this gave Elliott critical track position that the team was able to maintain through the remainder of the race.

So far this season, we have seen a hungry, gutsy, and aggressive energy from the Hendrick Motorsports veteran. This is an incredible welcome sight from the season we saw the No. 9 team have a year ago with an injury and a suspension. So, to say a win from the the Dawsonville, GA. is relieving, is an understatement. However, it’s not surprising that his first win of the year came this early looking at his stats. What could this mean for Elliott? Well, some of his most successful years in the NASCAR Cup Series came with early trips to victory lane, including his championship year.

Join Taylor Kitchen in the latest episode of Above The Yellow Line to predict Elliott’s season. Plus, tune in to talk about the racing product at Texas Motor Speedway.

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Taylor Kitchen

Taylor Kitchen found her passion for motorsports after watching a NASCAR Xfinity Series race with her grandma in 2016. The following year, she would attend her first race at Kentucky Speedway. The smell of the gas and roar of the engines filling her ears was enough to solidify her love of the sport. She spent the next few years working her way into the NASCAR online community and researching as much as she could to gain a vast knowledge of the sport. However, something was bothering her. At the time, Taylor struggled to find content within the space that was female-led and came from the perspective of a new fan. This inspired her to create her own media outlet, “Above The Yellow Line” in 2021. On this platform, Taylor writes, films, edits, and markets high-quality videos discussing the latest news and events from the sport. In April of 2022, her company partnered with the prominent NASCAR media outlet TobyChristie.com to provide them social media content and to report on location during select race weekends. Since then, Taylor has been able to help build TobyChristie.com's YouTube audience to well over four thousand subscribers and continues to help expand the company's social reach with her team. 2022 marked a new era for the brand as Taylor expanded ATYL’s capabilities to help various drivers with their communications, public relations, digital media, and marketing. In June of that year, she was hired by ARCA Series Champion, Austin Theriault to work for his driver development program, "AT Racing Development". As the organization's Director of Digital Marketing and Media, she produces and directs her clients tailor-made social media strategies. She also takes part in marketing efforts for her drivers. In May of 2023, Austin Theriault of AT Racing Development partnered with Team Hornaday Development and brought Taylor to the team as their Communications Manager. Working with Ron and Candice Hornaday, Taylor helps direct their drivers social media strategy and PR efforts. She also partakes in company and driver marketing and recruiting efforts