Chase Elliott has become the hottest young driver in NASCAR, ironically by being extremely cool in some high-pressure situations.
In only eight career starts in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, the 18-year-old senior at King’s Ridge Christian School heads into Friday’s race at Richmond International Raceway atop the series points standings on the strength of back-to-back wins at the high-speed Texas Motor Speedway and tough-old Darlington Raceway.
He won both races by outdueling veteran Sprint Cup Series drivers such as Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. In doing so, he energized the large fan base of his father, Bill Elliott, and he has Gordon Pirkle, owner of the Dawsonville Pool Room, back on siren duty, sounding the horn every time Elliott wins a race, just as he did for Bill Elliott’s 44 Sprint Cup victories.
Chase Elliott also managed to impress his father, who knows first-hand how difficult it is to win on NASCAR’s highest stages.
“I thought him winning at Texas was something else, but that’s nothing compared to what he did at Darlington,” Elliott said of his son’s charge from sixth place to first in the final two laps, passing Elliott Sadler on the outside to seal the victory on the Lady in Black. “He’d never been to either place, and look at the group of drivers he beat.
“It’s monumental. I don’t think people really realize what he’s done.”
Bill Elliott said he’s tried to gently steer his son in the right direction over the years and acknowledges that the Elliott name has been a plus for his son. But he said his son has gotten most of the way on his own.
“Your name can’t carry you,” he said. “You still have to have enough merit on your own to get you to the next level.”
Chase Elliott said his father, who this year was nominated for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., isn’t big on handing out advice or instructions about racing or the other challenges that come with being a driver.
“He’s always kind of given me space to figure things out on my own,” he said. “Any information he gives me, it’s just kind of there for reference. It’s not ever forced upon. I think that’s one of those things he kind of lets me figure out as we go.”
Still, when it comes to the Elliott boys, it’s “like father, like son,” from their car numbers (both 9) to their calm, methodical approach to on-track competition, even to the way they walk.
One of Chase Elliott’s current car owners, Dale Earnhardt Jr., pointed out in the winner’s interview at Texas that the youngster is a chip off the old stock-car block.
Asked who young Elliott reminded him of, Earnhardt replied: “His daddy.”
Earnhardt went on to say that the youngster, like his father, is unflappable, which is uncommon for someone his age.
“He just seems to understand what’s happening around him and how he needs to handle it,” Earnhardt said. “He just has a real calm and smooth demeanor that’s going to benefit him and really take him a long ways. It’s pretty impressive, really.”
Those who watched Chase Elliott in his younger days tell similar stories.
Once, just after he began racing in the Legends program at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he and another driver took off on an ill-timed trip for race fuel and missed practice. Bill Elliott arrived and noticed his son wasn’t on the track, but if he was as perturbed as most racing dad’s would have been, he never showed it.
He and his son sat down in the back of their enclosed trailer, each sitting on the cover of a wheel-well facing each other. “So how was your car in practice?” Bill Elliott asked facetiously.
“Good,” Chase replied. And the two put the incident behind them and went about their business.
AMS president Ed Clark recalled another incident in which he expected a tense situation between father and son.
“I went over there, and the two of them were sitting there eating M&Ms like nothing had happened,” Clark said, adding that Chase Elliott has a knack for keeping his head on straight no matter the situation.
“It’s in his makeup,” Clark said. “He’s so calm and collected. He doesn’t seem to ever get ruffled.”
Chase Elliott said his persona is a product of his upbringing.
“I guess that’s just how I’ve grown up and the people I’ve been around and whatnot,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s the right or wrong way to be, but that’s how I am.”
Clark also said the youngster seems to have innate instincts for how to handle himself on the track.
“He just knows how to race,” Clark said, adding that Elliott’s developmental years running Late Models across the country gave him both a museum full of trophies that are the envy of many a veteran racer and the experience he needs to succeed at the highest levels of NASCAR.
“A lot of it is natural talent. Every five or six years, a young driver will come along that has something the others don’t. So far, every level he’s raced in he’s won big.”
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