GREENVILLE, S.C. – Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, finished second in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at Greenville Pickens Speedway on Oct. 27. This is Elliott’s sixth top-five K&N Pro Series East finish of the season.

He still ranks fourth in the 2012 K&N Pro Series East championship standings, 36 points behind leader Corey LaJoie.

Elliott, 16, started his day at Greenville topping the charts in the event’s only practice session with a fast lap of 21.089 seconds (85.353 mph) around the half-mile.

The event at Greenville was rescheduled from the original race date of Sept. 3. Since rain washed out qualifying that day, the field was set by the rulebook so Elliott lined up third on Saturday night because of where he was in the point standings at that time.

As the race got underway, Elliott consistently ran inside the top-five for the first 42 laps of the event. The Dawsonville, Ga., native was pleased with how his No. 9 Chevrolet was handling.

At Lap 46 on a restart, Elliott was running fourth but got caught behind the No. 4 car that had lost gears. As a result, Elliott fell back to the ninth position. However, Elliott maintained his focus and was back up to fifth by Lap 100. Seventeen laps later, he was running third.

When the race reached Lap 125, Elliott was second and maintained this position until Lap 136 when a caution came out. On the restart, Elliott received contact from behind by the No. 07 car and at the same time, another incident on the track happened bringing out a caution once again.

When the race resumed for a green-white-checkered finish, Elliott was fourth. On the final lap, cars in front of Elliott made contact and the 16-year-old driver navigated his way around the wreck to cross the finish line second.

Elliott has posted one win, 10 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s in 27 career K&N Pro Series starts. In 13 K&N Pro Series East starts this season, he has posted one win, one pole award, six top-five finishes, nine top-10s and led a total of 70 laps.

Next up, Elliott will drive his No. 9 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet in the K&N Pro Series East season finale event at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway on Nov. 3.

Now until Nov. 18, fans can submit their vote to help Elliott win Most Popular Driver in the K&N Pro Series East for a second year in a row. To vote, please visit www.nascar.com/news/120817/2012-mpd-kn-east/index.html.