Cup rookie Chase Elliott wins K&N race at Sonoma

Elliott, a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series who had no prior experience at Sonoma Raceway, passed Noah Gragson with three of 64 laps remaining and held on to win Saturday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race.

The win is Elliott’s first in the series in four starts. Prior to Saturday, his most recent start in the series came in 2012.

“The strategy of this race is different from what we’ll run (Sunday), obviously. We’re not going to run 64 laps on one set of tires,” Elliott said. “From that aspect, it’ll be quite different.

“It was a fun race. I’m glad we came out to do this. I had a fast car all weekend and hopefully getting those extra reps will help (Sunday). I’m ready to find out.”

Gragson, who started fourth, grabbed the lead on Lap 26 and dominated much of the race, leading a race-high 34 laps.

Shortly after Elliott had moved his way into second and to Gragson’s bumper, Gragson washed wide through Turn 4, giving Elliott a chance to get around him. The two made brief contact before Elliott cleared him for the lead.

“I was trying to stay as patient as possible. With a Cup guy behind you, it’s a little intimidating. But it was awesome out there,” said Gragson, who is a member of this year’s NASCAR Next class of up-and-coming drivers.

“To come home second against a guy like Chase Elliott in the Cup series, it’s an unbelievable honor and nothing to hang our heads about. It’s a long race, 64 laps, on one set of tires and you definitely need to save your tires. I thought I saved a lot. I knew Chase was definitely going to save a lot – he backed off there at the beginning.”

Gracin Raz finished third, Ryan Partridge was fourth and Riley Herbst was fifth.

The race got off to a slow start when a multi-car wreck erupted before everyone had even taken the green flag, collecting the top two drivers in the series standings – Chris Eggleston and Todd Gilliland.