Chase Elliott Foundation “DESI9N TO DRIVE”

Racing Shoes to Benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta #desi9ntodrive

The Chase Elliott Foundation officially re-launched its fourth annual "DESI9N TO DRIVE" art collaboration with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Children's), the largest healthcare provider for children in Georgia. Elliott and his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates will wear racing shoes designed by four Children's patients (or siblings of patients) during this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 7.

Patients at Children’s submitted color sketches of racing shoes depicting their "big dreams" and four sketches were selected to be replicated on the Alpinestars racing shoes worn by the Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Beginning today, each of the four racing shoes are being auctioned online for nine days, ending June 14.

Auction proceeds go to the Chase Elliott Foundation to benefit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Covid-19 fund and the summer camp program that Children’s runs for its large patient network. Children's Covid-19 fund helps provide needed support, supplies and equipment for their most fragile patients and frontline workers.

"Wearing these special racing shoes and meeting the designers behind DESI9N TO DRIVE is one of the great things we do all season," said Elliott, a Dawsonville, Ga., native and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner in the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We've been fortunate to raise a significant amount of money over the last few years to enable more patients to enjoy time at summer camp and away from the hospital. In addition, this year my foundation will match the auction proceeds and make a separate donation to the Children's Covid-19 fund."

Elliott's teammates at Hendrick Motorsports include drivers Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Champion, Alex Bowman and William Byron.

"Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is honored to be able to continue our partnership with Chase Elliott on the DESI9N TO DRIVE program, which helps expand our summer camp program offerings to meet the needs of our growing patient population," said Beth Buursema, senior director, corporate partnerships at Children's. "To have Chase also make a sizeable donation to our Covid-19 fund helps enable Children's to properly and safely care for our patients and families during this difficult time."

The DESI9N TO DRIVE program has raised and donated over $100,000 from the auction and corporate partner support in its first three years.

I’ll be rocking these shoes for tomorrow’s race at Atlanta. They’re up for auction to benefit @childrensatl check it out 👇🏼https://t.co/48LUKwkI60 #Desi9nToDrive pic.twitter.com/d06Cv9bhxs

— Alex Bowman (@AlexBowman88) June 6, 2020

The winning racing shoe sketches were submitted by three patients and one patient sibling at Children’s ranging in age from five to 14 years old. The Hendrick drivers picked their favorite sketch, resulting in the following driver-designer pairings:

• Chase Elliott – Brooke Winokur, age 8

• Jimmie Johnson – Evelyn Odell, age 5 (older sister of patient)

• Alex Bowman – Justin Mingo, age 14

• William Byron – Julia Hope Sears, age 9

Following the race, each driver will sign their respective racing shoes, which are being auctioned off through June 14 at the online auction site of the NASCAR Foundation located at nascarfoundation.org/chaseelliott.

Several corporate partners are matching the highest winning bid of Elliott's shoes in the online auction, including NAPA AUTO PARTS, Mountain Dew, Hooters, Kelley Blue Book, Valvoline, and SunTrust.

ABOUT CHASE ELLIOTT FOUNDATION

The Chase Elliott Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support and financial assistance to well-qualified charitable organizations with an emphasis on helping others live healthier, happier lives. Elliott is the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE race car for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. Elliott was voted the NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver in 2018 and 2019. Visit chaseelliott.com/foundation for more information.

ABOUT CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA

As the only freestanding pediatric healthcare system in Georgia, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is the trusted leader in caring for kids. The not-for-profit organization’s mission is to make kids better today and healthier tomorrow through more than 60 pediatric specialties and programs, top healthcare professionals, and leading research and technology. Children’s is one of the largest pediatric clinical care providers in the country, managing more than one million patient visits annually at three hospitals, Marcus Autism Center, the Center for Advanced Pediatrics and 20 neighborhood locations. Consistently ranked among the top children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has impacted the lives of kids in Georgia, across the United States and around the world for more than 100 years thanks to generous support from the community. Visit choa.org for more information.

🏁 🏆 Last Five Posts 🏆 🏁

1. Keselowski Wins with a Never-Give Up Effort
2. JR Motorsports Xfinity Preview Cheddar's 300 presented by Alsco
3. Keelan Captures Pole in His First Go-Kart Race
4. NASCAR is Back at Bristol
5. History Through the Lens of NASCAR

Keselowski Wins with a Never-Give Up Effort

Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 crew, with their never give up effort, won Sunday’s Food City Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. This marked the fifth win of the NASCAR Cup season for Ford Performance and Team Penske’s 75th all-time Cup win with Ford.

“Congratulations to Brad, Jeremy, Roger, and the entire Team Penske organization,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “What an exciting finish. Once again, the teams put themselves in position to win and the Ford Mustang’s came away with a 1-2 finish with Brad and Clint {Bowyer}. Congratulations to Roger and his team on 75 wins with Ford. It’s great to be back to racing and delivering exciting finishes for the fans.”

2 for the #2crew. Super proud of this team and the way we’ve come together. We’re finding each other’s full potential and going to keep working hard at it. pic.twitter.com/dalB5JONZc

— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) June 1, 2020

It looked like the wild, wild west at Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon. With 2-laps remaining, race leaders Joey Logano and Chase Elliott made contact and collided with the outside wall, leaving an opening at the bottom of the track for a well-positioned No. 2 Ford Mustang to take advantage of the track position and take the lead. Keselowski was followed by the No. 14 of Bowyer from Stewart-Haas Racing to make it a 1-2 finish for Ford Performance.

Keselowski now has 32 all-time points Cup Series career wins and is tied with fellow Team Penske teammate Logano and former Roush Fenway Racing driver, Carl Edwards with 23 NASCAR Cup Series wins since joining Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines.

“An incredible day. I’m so happy for the team,” commented Keselowski. “This was a never-give-up effort. That’s what we’re becoming as a team. We kind of got a Christmas present here in Bristol. We’ll take it. We’re in position and able to strike when it counted with the Discount Tire Ford Mustang. We were just in position to strike and here we are in victory lane.”

Keselowski started from the pole position to lead a total of 115 laps of the 500-lap race and Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney led 60 laps until retiring after an incident with Ty Dillon. In addition, Matt DiBenedetto from Wood Brother’s Racing led four laps and Logano led two laps.

With the 1-2, Keselowski - Bowyer finish, Ford continues to lead the Manufacturer Standings by 25 points. In addition, Stewart-Haas Racing (370 points) and Team Penske (346 points) continue to lead the Owner Standings.

Monday night, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Cheddar’s 300, it all came down to a green-white-checkered finish for Chase Briscoe. He raced Noah Gragson hard off the restart, but ultimately finished the night second. In addition, Briscoe secured a position to run for an extra $100,000 in Atlanta this upcoming weekend.

Briscoe and Stewart-Haas Racing continue to lead the Driver Standings and Owner Standings in points.

NASCAR will head to Atlanta, Georgia later on this week, where the Xfinity Series will run the EchoPark 250 on Saturday and the Cup Series will run the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500. Reference the full 2020 schedule on roushyates.com.

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JR Motorsports Xfinity Preview

Cheddar's 300 presented by Alsco

• TRACK: Bristol Motor Speedway
• RACE: Cheddar's 300 presented by Alsco (300 laps / 159.9 miles)
• DATE: Monday, June 1, 2020
• TV: 7 p.m. ET on FS1
• RADIO: 6:30 p.m. ET on PRN and SiriusXM Ch. 90

All you need to know about the JR Motorsports drivers before today’s Cheddar’s 300 Xfinity Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

Quotes:

Michael Annett: “We had such a great Pilot Flying J Chevrolet the past two weeks, and I can’t wait to take the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro to Bristol. We’ve been solid there, running at the front and racing for top fives, and with the way we’re running, I think we are certainly capable of that again this weekend.”

Justin Allgaier: “Bristol is a place that has always been special to me. It’s where I got my first win and I’ve just always felt comfortable on the track there from the day I turned my first laps. Last year, we nearly won twice there, but bad luck struck us both times. That’s definitely something you don’t forget and I know this Suave Men team is just as eager as I am to get back there and get another shot at ending the day in Victory Lane.”

Daniel Hemric: “I’ve always loved racing at Bristol. It’s one of those tracks that I’ve had a good feel for since the first time I raced there in the Truck Series. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do on Saturday once we get there with our South Point Chevrolet. Taylor (Moyer, crew chief) and all of these guys on this No. 8 team have been working their tails off and it shows with the speed we’ve had in these two first races back. Hopefully we can keep that positive momentum going and get one spot better on Saturday.”

Noah Gragson: “Bristol is a tough track both mentally and physically. The amount of banking in the turns slams you down in the seat and you have to remind yourself to blink and breathe every lap or you end up falling out of the seat. The 9 team has proven to be really strong when we get to the track and go straight to the race, so I have faith that we will unload a fast Camaro and you’ll see us battling towards the front like the last two races.”

Notes:

• • Michael Annett is on a roll at the Bristol Motor Speedway oval, logging top-10 finishes in each of his last three starts and four of his last six, all in Pilot Flying J livery.
• • Annett’s best finish on the bullring is sixth, coming in 2011. In his last three starts there, Annett has earned finishes of seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
• • Consistency continues to be a strong point for the Iowa driver, and Bristol’s banks are no exception. Annett has completed 99.6 percent of the laps run in his 15 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts there.
• • BMS is also the home track of Pilot Flying J, based in nearby Knoxville, Tenn.
• • This year marks the 10th anniversary of Justin Allgaier’s first career NXS victory, which came at Bristol in the spring of 2010.
• • In 18 NXS starts at the Tennessee track, Allgaier has one win, eight top fives and 11 top 10s. He’s led a staggering 482 laps at Bristol, his highest total among tracks on the NXS circuit.
• • Allgaier has proven to be fast on speedways 1-mile or less in length, earning five of his 11 NXS career victories at Bristol (March 2010), Phoenix (March 2017, November 2019), Dover (May 2018) and Iowa (June 2018).
• • Coming off a season-best finish of second at Charlotte, Daniel Hemric will make his fifth NXS start at Bristol on Saturday afternoon.
• • In four previous NXS starts in “Thunder Valley”, Hemric has earned two top fives and three top 10s with a best finish of third coming in this event in 2018.
• • Hemric has also made a combined eight starts across the NASCAR Cup Series, the NXS and the NGROTS at Bristol, earning a total of four top fives and five top 10s.
• • Saturday marks the second primary race of 2020 for South Point Hotel & Casino with the No. 8. South Point previously partnered with Hemric during his 2018 NXS campaign.
• • Gragson has two starts at Bristol in the NXS and holds an average start of 8.5 and an average finish of 13.0.
• • In seven starts on tracks that are less than 1-mile in length, Gragson has recorded two top fives, five top 10s and holds an average finish of 9.6.
• • After six races in the 2020 season, Gragson sits fifth in the standings with one win, three top fives, four top 10s and has led 92 laps.
• • Gragson’s No. 9 Camaro will sport the colors of Plan B Sales for the first time in 2020 this weekend in Bristol.

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4. 600 Miles of Remembrance
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