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Elliott finishes fourth, holds the lead
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This weekend saw another Nationwide Series race end with Dawsonville's Chase Elliott in a top-five position.

The driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet finished fourth Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH.

"I wouldn't say I'm happy and overall satisfied with a fourth-place finish, because I want to win," Elliott said after the race. "However, we will certainly take it."

This is Elliott's ninth top-five finish in 22 races, continuing a now-10 point lead over teammate Regan Smith.

The 18-year old driver began the race in ninth position, moving to the front of the pack early in the 13-turn track.

"We qualified ninth and finish inside the top five to keep the points lead," he said. "I'm happy of our efforts."

Elliott's only major issue, in his words, came early on in the inability to stabilize the rear end of his vehicle through the course's right-hand turns. The issue was later resolved by crew chief Greg Ives on lap 27 with a chassis adjustment, which provided Elliott the necessary grip to advance even further up the leaderboard.

"My NAPA Auto Parts team has been very good this year about fighting all the way to the end," Elliott said. "We have gone into plenty of weekends this year where we were behind early, but never gave up, and eventually pulled out a solid finish.

The forth-place result gives Elliott a 4.6-average finish in three starts on road courses, currently the top among all Nationwide Series regulars.

"You know, from where we started the day to where we finished I felt like was pretty good," Elliott said. "Lap time-wise we were able to pick up speed where we needed to, but overall we will take this and move on to Bristol."

Elliott's next race will be on Aug. 22 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Following that race, he will have his first career NASCAR Nationwide race on his home track Aug. 30 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.