Chase Elliott is the driver everyone seems to be talking about at the moment, but not always for the right reasons. Coming into NASCAR with so much promise, and with a pretty famous father, he’s found it difficult to live up to the hype. However, after his last performance at the Talladega Superspeedway, perhaps it’s far too early to write him off. Maybe he’s about to become a NASCAR legend after all.
A Famous Father
Getting into racing when you have to follow in a family member’s footsteps is never easy. Chase is the son of Bill Elliott – also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville. As one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and an inductee into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, you could say that Bill Elliott is a pretty well-known name in the racing world. When Chase was just 13 years old, Chase was featured in an issue of Sports Illustrated as a potential future star. It seems as though the pressure had always been on his shoulders to really pull something out of the bag in his racing career.
Starting Strong
Luckily, it started pretty strong for Chase Elliott. He became the youngest ever winner of the Snowball Derby at just 16 and was showered with ‘Rookie of the Year’ awards in pretty much any competition he entered. However, almost as soon as he entered the NASCAR National Series, things seemed to start falling apart. Chase Elliott had been tipped for so many great things, yet he was finding it difficult to get anywhere near the top of the leaderboard. How was he going to follow in his father’s footsteps like this?
2019 Cup Series
We are just ten races into the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but already we’re starting to see some promise with Elliott. He finished first at the Talladega Superspeedway and has found himself in a comfortable seventh on the leaderboard overall. According to Nate Ryan and Dustin Long, seasoned NASCAR reporters, this win could be just what Elliott needs to start the ball rolling. If Chevy and Elliott can keep this momentum up, we could see him climb higher up the leaderboard than ever before.
Only time will tell if Chase Elliott will become a NASCAR legend like his father, but it’s starting to look promising for the young driver.