Chase Elliott

William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 24 Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series full-time. He also drives the No. 88 and No. 5 Chevrolet Camaros for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series on a part-time basis. He is the son of 1988 Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott.^[2]

He won the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship, becoming the first rookie to win a national series championship in NASCAR.

On November 23, 2015, Elliott was named the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver for the second year in a row.

Racing career

Early career and short track racing

Elliott's K&N Pro Series East car at Rockingham in 2012

Elliott raced in 40 races in various series in 2010, winning twelve events over the course of the year and finishing in the top ten 38 times.^[3] It was the third season of his racing career, and he won the Blizzard Series, Miller Lite and Gulf Coast championship en route to being named the Georgia Asphalt Pro Late Model Series Rookie of the Year.^[3] He ended the season by winning the Winchester 400.^[3] Sports Illustrated named Elliott as the high school player of the week in April 2011.^[3] During the year, he competed in the Champion Racing Association, winning the series' National Super Late Model championship.^[4] Later that year, just after his sixteenth birthday, he won the Snowball Derby and became the race's youngest winner.^[5] He beat the second place driver, DJ Vanderley, by a record 0.229 seconds.^[6] In 2012, he won the Alan Turner Snowflake 100, prelude to the Snowball Derby, for the second time in three years.^[7]

In November 2013, Elliott won the All American 400, becoming the first driver to win all four of the country's largest short-track races: the All American 400, the Snowball Derby, the World Crown 300 and the Winchester 400.^[8] In December, it appeared as though Elliott had become the first driver to sweep the Snowball Derby and Snowflake 100 in the same weekend. Upon post-race inspection, however, a piece of tungsten was found in Elliott's car, which was prohibited by the Derby rulebook. Elliott was accordingly disqualified and the victory awarded to Erik Jones.^[9] Elliott won the Snowball Derby in 2015 after initial winner Christopher Bell was disqualified.^[1]

NASCAR

Touring series

Elliott signed a three-year driver development contract with Hendrick Motorsports in February 2011.^[3][10] He competed in the K&N Pro Series East in 2011, finishing 9th in series points.^[4] Elliott returned to the K&N Pro Series East in 2012,^[4] winning his first career race in the series at Iowa Speedway in May.^[11] He finished fourth in series points.

In 2011 and 2012, Elliott competed in three K&N Pro Series West races (once in 2011, twice in 2012), all at Phoenix International Raceway. In his lone 2011 event, he finished third, and in the 2012 races, he finished 17th (due to a crash) and fourth.^[12]

Camping World Truck Series

In January 2013, it was announced that Elliott would compete in nine NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events for Hendrick Motorsports during the 2013 racing season, using trucks prepared by Turner Scott Motorsports.^[13]

In qualifying for the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Elliott won his first career NASCAR pole position with a lap speed of 125.183 miles per hour (201.463 km/h), and became the youngest pole-sitter in Truck Series history.^[14]

Elliott would win his first race in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, in the first road course truck race outside the US; he was at the time the youngest winner in Truck Series history, at the age of 17 years, 9 months, and 4 days.^{[15][N 1]} The win was however controversial as Elliott made contact with leader Ty Dillon in the last corner. Dillon hit the tire barrier while Elliott went into the grass though recovered enough to be able to coast to the finish line ahead of Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chad Hackenbracht.^[17]

Dillon afterwards stated that the next time they raced each other "he won't finish the race";^[17] later Elliott stated he had attempted to apologize to Dillon but without any response.^[18] The following week at Iowa Speedway, Elliott cut down a tire early in the race and crashed without involvement from Dillon.^[19]

In October 2016, Elliott entered the Alpha Energy Solutions 200 at Martinsville Speedway, his first truck race since 2013, driving the #71 for Contreras Motorsports, leasing owners points and the truck chassis from JR Motorsports.^[20]

Xfinity Series

Elliott racing his Nationwide car at Road America in 2014

In January 2014, it was announced that Elliott would be competing full-time in the Nationwide Series in 2014, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, with sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts.^[21] On April 4, 2014, Elliott won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, holding Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch off after taking the lead with 16 laps to go.^[22] On April 11, 2014, Elliott won the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway by passing Elliott Sadler on the last lap after restarting sixth with two laps to go.^[23] Elliott won the EnjoyIllinois.com 300 at Chicagoland Speedway after holding off Trevor Bayne.^[24] At Phoenix, Elliott clinched the Nationwide Series championship with a 53-point lead over teammate Regan Smith, becoming the first rookie and youngest driver to win a NASCAR national series title.^[25] Later in the year, he was named the Nationwide Series' Most Popular Driver.^[26]

In 2015, Elliott received his first DNF in his career after being involved in the second big one at Daytona, finishing 28th. On September 11, Elliott won his first race of the season at Richmond, snapping his 36-race winless streak. He battled with Chris Buescher for the championship, but was unable to catch up and finished 2nd in points.

With Elliott moving up to the Sprint Cup Series, he will drive the No. 88 car part-time in the Xfinity Series.

Sprint Cup Series

On January 29, 2015, Hendrick Motorsports announced Elliott would make his Sprint Cup Series debut in 2015, driving the No. 25 with Kenny Francis as crew chief. He was scheduled to race in five races at Martinsville, Richmond, Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Darlington. The team also announced that he will take over Jeff Gordon's No. 24 starting in 2016 as Gordon enters retirement.^[26]

Elliott's Cup debut in the STP 500 was threatened by potential rain; due to a lack of owner's points and race attempts, had qualifying been rained out, he would have failed to qualify. Elliott eventually recorded a lap speed of 96.919 mph (155.976 km/h), qualifying 27th.^[27] During the race, contact with Brett Moffitt on lap 75 forced his car to drop debris onto the track and damage to hang from its rear, while his power steering was damaged. Dropping to 37th, Elliott entered the garage, and returned to the race on lap 144, 69 laps behind the leader and in last. Elliott would ultimately finish 38th, 73 laps down.^[28] On May 5, it was announced that Elliott would be entering the Sprint All-Star Race's Sprint Showdown.^[29] He finished 8th and 5th in the event's two segments.^[30]

2016

Elliott joined the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2016, driving the No. 24 with Alan Gustafson as crew chief.^[26] Elliott carried primary sponsorship from NAPA (twenty-four races),^[31] 3M (five races),^[32] SunEnergy1 (four races),^[33] Kelley Blue Book (two races),^[34] and Mountain Dew (two races).^[35] He won the 2016 Rookie of the Year over Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Jeffrey Earnhardt, and Brian Scott.^[36]

In his Daytona 500 debut, Elliott won the pole with a speed of 196.314 miles per hour (315.937 km/h). At the age of 20, he became the youngest pole-sitter in 500 history.^[37] Elliott led three laps in the race, but on lap 18, spun exiting turn four and slid into the grass, damaging the front of the car. Elliott returned to the race on lap 59, 40 laps down, and finished 37th.^[38] The next week he finished 8th at Atlanta for his first Sprint Cup top ten finish. The following week, at Las Vegas, Elliott showed a strong car all day and even had his car inside the top 5 with 40 laps to go, but crashed and finished 38th. Elliott picked up more top tens during the spring, finishing 5th at Texas for his first career Top-5, 4th at Bristol, 5th at Talladega, 9th at Kansas, 3rd at Dover, 8th in the Coca-Cola 600, and a career best 2nd at Michigan.^[39] At Pocono for the running of the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400, Elliott would have his breakout race of his Sprint Cup career, Elliott would start 13th and later get the lead in the race and he would lead a race high of 51 laps, leading the most laps in a Sprint Cup race for the first time in his career. On a restart Elliott would lose the lead and then race came down close to fuel but the fuel would hold and he would finish 4th. At Michigan in June, Elliott finished second after he missed a shift in the lead. He won the fan vote to advance into the All-Star Race along with Danica Patrick where he finished a respectable 7th after nearly winning the final segment of the Sprint Showdown, losing to Kyle Larson in a photo finish. Fifteen races into his rookie season he sits 6th in the standings, the highest without a victory, with two poles for the Daytona 500 and at Talladega, six Top-5's and eleven Top-10's. Two weeks later at Sonoma, Elliott started 16th, but would ultimately finish 21st. He was one of the first rookies to qualify for the Chase along with Chris Buescher since Denny Hamlin in 2006. On September 18 at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, he had a chance at his first win but a late caution wiped out his 3 second lead over Martin Truex Jr. who would go on to win the race while Elliott would finish in 3rd.

Other racing

Elliott's 2013 ARCA car at Road America

Elliott competed in five ARCA Racing Series races in 2013 in order to gain experience at larger circuits (ARCA allows 17-year old drivers to race at Pocono Raceway and Kentucky Speedway, two circuits where NASCAR has a minimum age of 18; the minimum age for ovals longer than 2,000 meters, or 1.25 miles, is 18 years of age; shorter tracks and road courses have a minimum age of 16.).^[13] On June 8, 2013, Elliott became the youngest winner in ARCA superspeedway history following his Pocono victory.^[40]

In popular culture

Television appearances

Elliott has made appearances on television, including CMT's The Dude Perfect Show^[41] and MTV's Ridiculousness.^[42] He voices the character Mark Set-Go on Nickelodeon's Blaze and the Monster Machines.^[43]

Magazines

Elliott has appeared on the cover of magazines, including NASCAR Illustrated;^[44] NASCAR Pole Position;^[45][46] and Georgia Magazine.^[47]

Video games

Elliott is featured as a playable driver in Forza Motorsport 6, via the NASCAR expansion pack.^[48] The expansion features twenty-four paint schemes from the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season, including Elliott's No. 24 NAPA SS.^[48] Elliott, along with Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, provide commentary in the expansion as the "voices of motorsport."^[48] Elliott and Johnson also had roles in developing the expansion.^[49]

Motorsports career results

Career summary

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

See also

• List of Daytona 500 pole position winners
• List of NASCAR Xfinity Series champions
• List of people from Georgia (U.S. state)

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chase Elliott.

• Official website
• Chase Elliott driver statistics at Racing-Reference