Dawsonville native Chase Elliot finished eight on Sunday in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. 

Elliott led the second most laps during the race and won stage one. He was able to take the lead for the first time in the race on lap 27. After a caution on lap 32, he fought hard for the lead spot fighting off Kyle Busch who was trying to get his first lead. Elliott worked hard to keep Busch away and did so successfully, leading for the rest of the stage. 

The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet was out in front again starting on lap 79 after being in the top three for the whole stage. Elliott continued battling teammate Kyle Larson throughout the stage, but was able to hold Larson off until Elliott pitted on lap 112. Elliott finished stage 2 in fourth place earning him six additional playoff points.

Elliott moved up to second place during stage three, but due to a scheduled pit stop fell back to 17 with under 20 laps to go. Elliott was able to fit back, including narrowly avoiding being involved in a wreck that happened right in front of him.

Elliott finished in eighth which is his tenth top-10 finish of the season and put him in fifth overall, thirteen points behind William Byron who finished second in the race to Ryan Blaney who only led for eight laps.

Elliott’s car had radio problems early in the race. The feed seemed to be getting cut out from the crew to the car, which makes it hard for a driver to know what is going on in the rest of the field.

Elliott is fifth place in NASCAR’s regular season standings, but is projected to be in fourth in playoff point standings at the end of the regular season next week, behind Larson, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. 

Next week’s race will be the final race of the regular season is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona The race starts at 7 p.m.