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Elliott Wins Montgomery’s Show Me The Money #5

Chase Elliott and his Aaron’s Dream Machine crew overcame the crash of their hauler en route to the track and a late-race spin to win the fifth running of the Show Me The Money series at Montgomery Motor Speedway.

The weekend woes began when the team hauler, driven by Jacky Wade, went through the steel wire barrier and off of Interstate 85 just inside the Alabama state line during rainy, foggy weather.

Wade was unhurt and no other vehicles were involved, but I-85 was closed down to one lane for the next five and a half hours while the transporter was pulled from the median.

The hauler was towed to the track, and the team had to use a drill to open the hydraulic door but eventually unloaded the race car and got about five laps in the first practice of the day and all of the second practice.

Elliott qualified on the pole and drew a three for the invert, putting Kyle Benjamin on the pole with Bubba Pollard alongside.

When the green flag waved, Elliott passed Pollard for second and on lap three the first caution of what became an evening of many cautions was out. On lap six, Elliott passed Benjamin for the lead, after another restart on lap 11, Elliott stretched his lead to 10 car lengths and held it until another caution flag flew on lap 27.

The next restart saw several cars damaged, with Pollard among those hitting the wall and bringing out a red flag, which temporarily stopped the race. The restart on lap 40 brought out yet another caution on lap 41 with another restart beginning on lap 46.

Elliott maintained the lead throughout and was beginning to lap slower drivers when he came up on Bill Baker III.

Elliott was passing Baker to put him a lap down but didn’t quite clear him coming out of turn two and ended up spinning himself. Elliott was sent to the back of the lead lap drivers for bringing out the caution.

Crew chief Ricky Turner opted to have Elliott bring the Aaron’s Dream Machine down pit road for a quick check of tire pressures and condition of the car since he was restarting in eighth place anyway.

The car was in good shape, and Elliott had 50 laps to make his way back to the front.

By lap 83 Elliott had moved into the fourth position and was working on his chief rival Augie Grill for third, taking that position on lap 85.

Elliott then took the battle to Jason Young for the second position and grabbed that spot on lap 89.

Now Elliott would begin tracking down the race leader John Bolen. Once he caught him, he began working the high side and then the low side to find a way around.

Bolen fought hard as Elliott moved inside and the drivers raced side by side for two straight laps until Elliott finally won the battle and moved into the lead for the final laps of the evening, giving him his third win in five Show Me The Money races.

Chase Elliott said, “It was by far the best we have ever run down there [Montgomery Motor Speedway], it was a rough day getting over there but we are all glad that Jacky was okay and really excited that we got a win.”

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