03.08
When a driver and team qualifies 34th in NASCAR’s highly competitive Sprint Cup Series, the smart money says to manage the expectations and seek glory some other day. But when the green flag dropped to start the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, hometown favorite Bill Elliott and the crew of his Wood Brothers No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion came out swinging, with chassis changes by the crew and some determined driving by Elliott, a native of the north Georgia town of Dawsonville.
The David Hyder-led crew used several early pit stops to tune on the car, and they hit on a set-up that allowed Elliott to begin climbing through the field. Just after the 300-mile mark, the team was getting some quality TV time on FOX, and it wasn’t for old-times sake. It was due to hard work on pit road and hustle behind the wheel as Elliott worked his way into the top 15 and even into the lead at Lap 215 before surrendering the top spot to make a pit stop.
The Woods then reached into their bag of tricks and tried to pull one of their proven Atlanta strategies and stretch their fuel mileage late in the race. But numerous late cautions foiled that plan. “We were in position to make one less stop than everybody else, but it didn’t work out,” said team co-owner Len Wood, one of the most respected fuel mileage strategists on pit road.
With the fuel strategy plan no longer an option, the Woods and Elliott returned to a more conventional strategy, one that was good enough to allow them to overcome a lap-losing penalty on a pit stop. At Lap 273 of a scheduled 325, sitting in 29th position, two laps behind the leader, the day appeared to be essentially over for the famed No. 21. The smart money would say it was, but Elliott and the team had other ideas.
Using the wave-around rule and some heads-up driving, Elliott got the car back on the lead lap, even though he was often at a disadvantage, tire-wear wise, to the drivers he was racing. By the time a crash between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski set up the first of two green-white-checkered flag restarts, Elliott had made his way to 23rd, on the lead lap.
As the lead pack raced through Turns 3 and 4 on the first restart, a multi-car melee began unfolding just ahead of Elliott and his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion. The ol’ cat behind the wheel showed he still had some pretty quick reflexes, and he steered his way through the smoke and grinding metal to line up 14th for the final restart. But Elliott found himself at a disadvantage to drivers behind him who had fresher tires, a huge advantage on an abrasive track like AMS, and he lost two spots at the end. He crossed the finish line challenging pole-sitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a top-15 finish but had to settle for a 16th, his best of the young season. It was his second straight strong effort – and second straight 16th-place run, going back to Homestead last fall – on an intermediate track, the size facility that makes up the bulk of the team’s limited schedule.
“I was tickled to death after what we went through,” Elliott said in the garage Sunday night at AMS, standing in sight of a grandstand that bears his name. “We had a penalty on pit road, and then it was just one thing after another. The car was pretty tight and we fought that…. “It was just one of those days, but it turned out.”
The No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion returns to the track on April 18 for the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Congrats to Bill and the Wood Brothers on great comeback at Atlanta on Sunday. Very solid run and hopefully a run to build some momentum for future races.
Also give a shout out to Chase on his great run yesterday in the Rattler 250 super late model race. Both Elliotts did well yesterday.
Seeing results like yesterday makes all us Elliott fan happy!
Sounds like Bill and his family had a pretty good weekend. As the saying goes-”priceless”..
Great job Bill and the #21 team. We were at the race yesterday and yelling ” Go Wild Bill Go! ” all day. I will admit I was worried after qualifing, but after seeing Bill improve lap after lap the worries left. I loved seeing the #21 run strong with the #18, #24 , #29 , and #88! Great race Bill and try to stay on the #99 and #12′s good side! Keep it up and I’d love to see you get win #45. Also great job to Chase on his Rattler 250 finish. Go Bill Go!
cindy i think bill would have made the top ten if they hadnt have the problem on pit road overall what a tremendous effort proud of bill and the wood bros . can someone tell me what place chase got in the rattler 250 thanks. great weekend bill and chase. go elliotts
Great job by the old pro Bill Elliott, something tells me better days are coming and the Wood Brothers 21 still has it. Bill has made a good showing in the 21 this year and I hope it continues. If anyone can do it, Awesome Bill is the one!
Way to go Bill! I’m so happy for the results from Atlanta; I knew that you still had it in you. You beat a lot of high dollar and high profile teams. Get the problems fixed on pit road and I believe that you could have finished in the top 10. I just wish that you would race more races.
Remember that there is only 1 Million Dollar Bill!!!
Strong run Bill, I have think that if the taem was running more races the pit stops would be stronger. You did a great job with the cards dealt as always.
Look how far you and the woods brothers have come. You guys never give up. I’m gonna make a predictions. Bill will win this year. As I reflect on how a lot of superstars in nascar finished there careers(Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip), it was a degrace to there driving abiltiy. Bill you keep impressing me and you still got it. What you have done witht he woods brothers is a great accomplishement. I rememeber when you announeced driving for the woods brothers at the time a car that couldn’t even make the field. One blogger said, the only reason the woods brothers pick bill was for his past championship provisional. I wish I could blogg him back and say How about that awesome bill. Cindy whatever your feeding him, keep it up.
Cindy I think that Bill would have had a top 5 finish or better why does he continue to have problems with the pit crew.
get that win bill we need more races for you to get that pit crew up to your level keep it up
The problems are probably because they aren’t an every week race team, but another top 20 is awesome! Anybody know how he did in that Legends race on Saturday?
Hey Cindy,
Has the woods thought about contacting Mcdonalds to come on board the car. I bet with Bill’s past relationship with them that it could happen. I mean dang they are going to sponsor Mcmurray for ten races just because he said he was going to eat a bigmac in victory lane after winning Daytona. The Mcdonalds motorcraft quick lane ford kinda has a ring to it. Better yet how about coors. I know that I’m dreaming but we got to get theses guys some more track time. I tried to find a number for Mcdonalds to put a bug in there ear but couldn’t find a contact. Hey Bill I was real proud of you yesterday way to drive your butt off. Bill if you think it will help I’ll take my truck up to the shop and get the guys to keep rotating my tires all day. I don’t live but about 40 mins from the shop….lol
Keep safe my friend,
Mark Walker
Good run Bill.The car finally had the speed at the beginning of a run.You drove a good race.All us fans know that if you have a good car you will take it to the front.Were proud of you.
Jeff
Good run Bill, Chase you also had a great week-in.
Chase finished 4th place In the Rattler 250. He started the race in 5th place and led the race for several laps. Chase stayed on the led lap and ran up front all day. Jeff Fultz won the race. I bet Bill and Cindy are so proud. Great job Chase and continued success this season. Best of luck to the Elliott’s in 2010!
Since the Wood Bros. cherry pick the races they attempt I don’t understand how they can come to the track with one of the slowest cars in the field. They should always be among the fastest off the truck with all the time they have between races to devote to their next race.
I have been a Bill Elliott fan club member for what seems about 137 yrs. now and I don’t know that I’ve ever been more proud of Mr. Elliott than I was Sunday!!! The MAN took junk and turned it into gold. If the evil empire (Hendricks) put him in one of their cars, he’d win 20 races. All i can say to them is count your days ’cause Chase will be on his ways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 question for Mrs. Cindy. Will Bill and yourself be the car owners for Chase when he makes his cup debut? I think the kids ready now. He’s already beating guys that are twice his age or better!!!! GO ELLIOTTS
Great job Bill! It seemed great to see you lead a race again. Congrats to Chase on a fantastic job also! Keep up the good work guys.
Well Frank honestly we all most likely wish you got lost. The indications are you don’t know what you’re talking about. Last I knew nascar cut down on practicing at tracks for development… Not to mention the dollars to even build a stockcar !
Frank, Please tell me your not an Elliot fan. Better yet go somewhere else. You magnitude of nascar knowledge would put you in the idoit section. We are all in the Elliott section.
I’VE HAD ENOUGHT OF THE PRESS ACTING LIKE BILL IS FINISHED… BILL CAN STILL WIN!!! GIVE HIM THE HENDRICK OR ROUSH ENGINEERS AND HE WILL STILL BE AS GREAT AS EVER!!! GO BILL!!!
I DON’T EVEN WATCH NASCAR WHEN BILL ISN’T RACING
You obviously don’t have a clue.
lol frank please… you obviously dont have a clue as to how the engineering of the cars work and the millions of dollars that are put into R&D. Hendrick,Roush,Stewart-Hass, they all spend MILLIONS more dollars than the woods do. You have to understand that the woodbrothers are coming back from the bottom and trying to work they’re way back into the sport dilligently which is hard to do in these times with sponsorship. If you’re a real fan and you follow bill and the woods on a weekly basis then you know that they are making strides and will continue to make them until eventually that a back fully into the swing of things. They will get back to being very competitive you just have to give it some time. Until then Fank, keep your mouth shut if your gonna make uneducated comments.
This is for Cindy When Chase turns 18 and starts racing in the Cup series will Bill and you have a team established. What I mean is that Bill running a part time schedule with a single car team puts him at a big disavantadge, Hendrick and Roush have 4 cars which gives them 4 times as many tests and 4 times as much money to spend and 4 times as much input from the other drivers if chase is going to have a chance in the cup series he needs to run with a team that has at least 2 cars maybe poole or roderick can be his team mate in the cup series so i just wanted to know if bill is going to start a team like hendrick or rousch before chase gets there to give him the best chance to win races and Titles. Thanks for your time.
give me the days when there were no teams ! don’t beleive racing should be a team of cars – sport !!!!
Cindy tell Bill when he comes to the Charlotte area that I want to take him and put him on a big catfish at Lake wateree in sc.
I am a huge fan of Bills and I have seen every nascar race since the ealry 90s and I think that Bill is one of the most underrated drivers of all time. I mean he could easly be a 3 time champ. When he started in nascar he did a limted schedule driving for his dad with a very small budget. The whole team had to share a hotel room and when they finally got some backing from melling he started to win races. Think about how many more wins he would have got if he could have got that help early. Also when he was driving his own team from 1995 to 2000 he went winless but as soon as he was able to be just driver again with everhamn he was back to wining races and at the end of the 2003 season he was as good as anybody out thier. Just think he he would have kept driving fulltime with everhamn and mike ford as his crew chief. I think he would have won champtionship.
Bill you should have came to Bristol! you had a great car there last time!! i seen what messed you up ! michael waitrip. you definitively had a top 10!!!! GO Bill! you are the BEST all time!!!!!!!!!
Still awesome ,Bill and the Woods are constantly improving their team and making me proud that there are still people out there proving that hard work and talent can beat dollars.
I think that is what keeps Bill and the Woods going Daniel. They want to show everyone that hard work and talent can beat dollars, and I think they’re the right group of guys to do it. I can’t wait for the rest of this season. It’s going to be a great one
I think so too.
Nice of you to offer.
Bill I am 14 and I became a fan of yours about 8 years ago. I got into NASCAR pretty much when I was born my parents said that I always used to watch racing. Hey nice run last week at Atlanta and tell the wood brothers to give you a good car at Texas so you can go out and KICK JOHNSON’S BUTT. I mean I know you can if you have a good enough car. Go get win #45 and please don’t retire any time soon. By the way are you coming back full time in 2011 because I think that you would do great and make the chase.
Hey Bill one more thing are the wood brothers planning on making your 1:64 scale race car because I collect them and I’d love to add the #21 to the collection?
I haven’t heard anything about a 1:64th yet.
Your support is overwhelming.
llenot the same without Bill there.
I watched the bristol race,but I have found that without Bill in it I just dont really care.