DAWSONVILLE, Ga. (March 22, 2010) - Montgomery Motor Speedway's season-opening "Show Me The Money" race should have been called "Show Me Some Excitement."

Money didn't seem to be the driving force in the dramatic last-lap battle for the win, as Chase Elliott, Josh Hamner and Justin South put on a classic short-track battle for the win, with South, who took the white flag in second place, taking the win with Elliott a close second and Hamner third.

For Elliott, the race could just as well have been called "Stand On The Gas" because those were the instructions he got from his father and spotter Bill Elliott when the laps wound down and it was time for the teenager to run with the big Late Model dogs or sit on the porch.

"I loved it when we were coming to one of our last restarts and Dad said, 'Stand on it, son' instead of 'Ready….ready….Green Flag,'" Elliott said. "It was just that kind of a night."

Indeed it was. The stands at the Montgomery track, which once stood on the verge of extinction, were packed with fans eager to see the start of a new season. And Mother Nature cooperated too, providing warm weather to usher in the first night of Spring.

Elliott was there with his No. 9 Aaron's Dream Machine, sporting a new paint scheme for the first time this season and a freshened Blue Oval Ford 347 Crate Motor under the hood.

Elliott immediately put the fresh Ford ponies to work, qualifying on the outside pole beside Dillon Oliver. Both drivers broke the old track record in the process, but it was good for bragging rights only as Oliver drew a 10 for the inversion, dropping him and Elliott to mid-pack for the start and putting eight of the South's top Late Model drivers ahead of them.

A missed shift ahead of him on the initial start cost Elliott two spots, but he was back in the top 10 by Lap 17.  By Lap 73, Elliott was up to sixth, and by Lap 104 he was in third place, but the numerous caution laps that had been run all evening had the Aaron's team concerned with fuel mileage. 

But fuel issues weren't the only source of drama as the laps wound down.  When the green flag flew on Lap 113 for what would be the last restart of the evening, the front three of Hamner, Elliott and South ran bumper-to-bumper, each waiting for any opportunity to go for the glory.  Hamner took the white flag, then South went low coming to the checkered flag, with Elliott pushing South through to take the win while holding off Hamner for the runner-up spot.

"Well, it didn't lack for excitement," Elliott said in the understatement of the night. "There was a lot of passing and bumping into each other for sure from the start to the finish."