Racing at Watkins Glen International is always meaningful for Chase Elliott.
“That was the place for me, and a lot of great memories from that, that I’ll always cherish,” said Elliott, who drives the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
It’s where he won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race in 2018 — the first of back-to-back wins at the Glen for Elliott, and first of five in a row for his team.
“That’s just one of those things you don’t ever forget,” said Elliott, who’s regularly voted as the fans’ favorite driver. “And I think if you’re fortunate enough for that to happen wherever and whenever that happens, that place automatically becomes special forever.”
Elliott returns to the famous road course this weekend. Go Bowling at the Glen, which is typically reserved for August, will instead be run on Mother’s Day this year, the earliest since NASCAR returned to the Finger Lakes in 1986.
“It’s typically a really nice part of the country,” he said. “I always enjoy going up there, and usually it’s in the kind of the middle of the summer, which is always nice to get out of that southeastern heat for a few days.”
Elliott doesn’t think the change in date will make too much of an impact. The schedule is not something he can control. So instead, he’s focusing on cleaning up inconsistencies to get the car back in victory lane.
“Honestly, Watkins Glen has become more miss than it has been hit the last couple of years,” said Elliott, who finished 26th last year. “So it’d be nice to get back on a good track up there, or on the right track up there, I should say, and get something going.”
He seems to be heading that way after picking up his second win of the season at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Elliott hopes to make the Glen his third win this weekend.
“Excited to get up there and see everybody that makes that weekend special,” he said.