Chase Elliott will do double duty this weekend at Sonoma Raceway, competing in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race and Saturday’s K&N Pro Series West race.
This weekend marks Elliott’s first time at Sonoma Raceway, a 1.99-mile road course. It’s not uncommon for drivers competing there for the first time to run the companion K&N West race to gain more track time.
Trevor Bayne competed in the K&N West race last year, finishing 10th, a day before his first Cup start at Sonoma. Austin Dillon placed sixth in last year’s K&N West race to gain extra experience on the road course a day before his second Cup start there. Kyle Larson won the 2014 K&N West race a day before his first Cup start at that track. Elliott is the only Sprint Cup driver on the preliminary entry list for this weekend’s K&N West race.
Elliott has competed in seven road course races in his NASCAR career, six in Xfinity and once in the Camping World Truck Series. He won the 2013 Camping World Truck race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after contact with leader Ty Dillon on the final corner of the last lap.
Also this weekend, Hendrick Motorsports stated that Elliott’s father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, will serve as a second spotter. It’s not uncommon for teams to use a second spotter on the road course to help with a portion of the track the main spotter might not have as good a view.
Elliott enters this Cup weekend having scored six consecutive top-10 finishes. Kurt Busch has the series’ longest active streak of top-10 finishes with nine.
