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CHASE ELLIOTT

Birth Date: November 28, 1995 Hometown: Dawsonville, GA
Team: No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 / Hendrick Motorsports

Chase Elliott didn’t win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
race until his 99th career start. Once he started, he’s made it look easy
by winning three of his last 15 races.
So close for so long, the 23-year-old second-generation drive finally 2018 featured drivers
has evolved into the championship-caliber driver everyone expected.
After all, when your father is Bill Elliott, the fastest stock-car driver of all
time and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, you face a higher
degree of expectations.
The son proved in 2018 he’s capable of making his own way through
the sport.

Getting to Victory Lane wasn’t easy. Despite driving one of the elite
cars in NASCAR, a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from Hendrick Motorsports,
Elliott knew nothing but frustration for more than two years in the
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series level. He finished second or third FOLLOW ONLINE
a total of 16 times before finally taking the checkered flag last Aug. 5 on
the road course at Watkins Glen International.
@chaseelliott chaseelliott9
Moreover, he led 52 of 90 laps and showed the same kind of speed and
prowess that his legendary father used to win 44 races and the 1988
Cup series championship. And in the process, he excited a sport that martintruexjr.com @ChaseElliott
desperately longed for another Elliott-like homespun demeanor.

“Learning the hard way, for sure,” Elliott said of all of his early near- And Elliott, the 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, had three
misses. “But you definitely learn things from those situations. I definitely of them. Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson, William Byron and
have. A lot of those situations were very different from one another. Alex Bowman are were winless.
I think back to some of the races and the races that I was more
disappointed in. Being in the lead in some of those situations and losing “I’ll be honest with you, we have not changed a single bit of our
it in the closing laps, others being kind of on offense in the closing laps preparation since I’ve been here in 2016,” Elliott said. “Our meeting
and being able to get to second. They’re all different.” schedule is the same, we still talk about similar things. Sure, I think
we’ve evolved and gotten to know each other better as a team,
Bill Elliott was at Watkins Glen to celebrate with his son. which certainly is worth a lot, but the step-by-step process of what
we do is not changed a bit.”
“You talk about numbers. I think this was his 99th start, correct? The
[No.] 9 car wins the 99th start,” Bill Elliott said. “I won my first Cup race Maybe it’s the pedigree. Or the better understanding of the
at a road course in Riverside. equipment. Or both.
“It’s just sometimes certain things line up and you can’t ask why or what “We started the year and we were pretty bad. I felt like pretty off on
or why things worked that particular way.” speed, struggling with handling, trying to get our cars better. I think
we’ve got them better,” Elliott said.
Young Elliott backed up his road course win with victories at Dover and
Kansas. He qualified for the NASACAR Playoffs and was eliminated “I think the performance on track has put us in positions to
after three rounds. While he had to settle for sixth in points, he clearly capitalize. That’s been the difference. We’ve been just in position
made his mark. more often. If you can keep putting yourself in position, I think those
are great places to be.”
While others in the Chevrolet camp struggled to figure out the
tendencies of the new Camaro ZL1, Elliott was the first to strike on a Alan Gustafson returns to guide the team for his 14th season
workable combination of speed and handling. Despite the expansive as a crew chief. He’s won previously with Kyle Busch and Jeff
resources at Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing, Gordon at HMS. Elliott says there’s a “fire” in the Hendrick camp
along with their satellite teams, Chevrolet only managed four victories for 2019, a “lot of excitement” that can be traced to Elliott’s victory
in 2018. breakthrough.

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