Chase Elliott to run Pocono Xfinity race with Hendrick

Elliott, 27, will be making his first Xfinity (NXS) start of the year on July 22nd at Pocono.

He will be driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) Chevrolet with sponsorship from HendrickCars.com.

The part-time entry has already run select entered races this year, first with William Byron who finished second at COTA, and then with Kyle Larson who finished third at at Sonoma.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images

Elliott, a former champion of the Xfinity Series (2014) with the Hendrick-affiliated JR Motorsports, hasn't started an NXS race in nearly two years. In fact, his last oval race in an Xfinity car came in February, 2019 at Daytona. 

In 82 Xfinity starts, he has five wins, 34 top-fives, and 66 top-tens.

Elliott is the most recent Cup winner at Pocono, taking the victory after the first and second-place finishers were disqualified last year.

Hendrick has plans to run the No. 17 car in a total of five races this year. After Elliott, Alex Bowman will drive the car at Watkins Glen, and then Larson at Darlington.

HMS has 26 NXS wins, but none since 2009. They stopped entering Xfinity-level races between 2010 and 2021, but have since changed course and run a handful of races over the past two years.