This year marks a decade that Chase Elliott has been both a competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series and a participant in the Daytona 500 and both benchmarks are not lost on him.
Elliott, now a Cup Series champion and perennial favorite every weekend, remembers how surreal and out of place he was during his rookie Speedweeks. Remember that he wasn’t even driving the No. 9 yet as he inherited the No. 24 from the just retired Jeff Gordon in 2016.
“Like, his son came over to me before the Clash and high fived me,” Elliott said. “That was special. I’m driving the 24 car and his son came over to high five the driver of the 24 car like he’s always done. It was weird, but special, and I tried to process it and I don’t know that I ever did. I did try to enjoy it.”
And then crew chief Alan Gustafson put him on the pole for The Great American Race, followed by Elliott winning the Xfinity Series race for JR Motorsports that Saturday, all serving to magnify the spotlight on a driver that was seemingly always destined to become an unwitting main character at the highest level.
“That first 500 was kind of unique, and I remember it like it was yesterday, because we came here and sat on the pole, right,” Elliott said. “So now, I’m like, here I am, first Daytona 500, and probably don’t deserve to be here in the first place.”
Credit to Elliott in that he won the 2014 Xfinity Series championship and was as prepared for Cup as anyone else who reaches that point.
“But here I am, and Alan has built this great car that won the pole and now I have to be the one answer those questions,” Elliott said of the media day fanfare regarding his weekend. We win the Xfinity Series race, and it was this great start to the weekend.”
Then came race day itself.
“I’m walking down pit road to the car, just walking by all these heroes of mine, that I grew up watching,” Elliott said. “It was just a surreal moment, I think, for me.”
Elliott, who turns 30 in November, also says he has just changed a lot over the past decade in general.
“Like, those of you in this room who are over 30 or near 30, think about how much you changed in that decade from like 20 to 30, right,” he said.
Elliott said that the community at large tend to look at a racing career as this ‘one continuous journey’ and ‘each season is a chapter’ but he said that each season is a whole book unto itself and that he has grown and changed with each passing campaign.
So now, entirely comfortable with his place in NASCAR, with a championship and 19 career victories at the highest level, Elliott said a win in the Daytona would be more about his crew chief than any personal satisfaction.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s been years now, but it’s been a fun ride,” Elliott said. “I hope one day we can put our name on that trophy because it would be a big deal for our team.
“And really, especially for a guy like Alan because he’s from this area, and he’s been so close and never won this race. I know how high up his list this race is and at this point, that’s my biggest motivating factor to want to win, giving someone so deserving something that’s special to him, because it hasn’t happened yet.”
