DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When Chase Elliott reached NASCAR’s pinnacle last November, his Cup Series championship started something greater.
His “offseason” spoke for itself. Elliott, 25, began filling out his place as NASCAR’s lead star.
As the sport moves into a new era with a more-streamlined schedule, Elliott elected to evolve with it, at a rate that could yield big results over the next decade.
No one is better on road courses in NASCAR’s current era than Elliott. This year, a record seven road courses grace the schedule. There’s also few drivers more ambitious and driven simply to get better than the reigning Cup Series champion, either.
Over the winter Elliott raced in the Snowball Derby, the Chili Bowl Nationals, and the Rolex 24 At Daytona. He’s also raced and may continue to race USAC National Midget Series events with Chad Boat, a move that is stretching Elliott and sharpening his skill set.
“At the end of the day, you have to be good everywhere, and I want to be good everywhere,” Elliott said on adapting to the revamped Cup Series schedule for this year, but also, racing in general. “We, as a team, want to get to the point where we can win on any given week: road course, circle track, intermediate, dirt. Whatever it is, we want to be able to win at any time. The great teams and the great drivers are capable of doing that.
“I think we are capable of doing that, so that’s where my head’s at: trying to be good everywhere.”
The son of 16-time Cup Series Most Popular Driver Bill Elliott always seemed destined for superstardom, but maybe not in this fashion. He was always known for his short track prowess on the asphalt super late model scene.
When he moved to the Xfinity Series in 2014, he raced intermediate tracks to a series championship in his first full season at 18 years old.
What distinguishes Elliott now is his road racing ability and newfound dirt racing endeavors.
It’s important to note that Elliott has won the last four points-paying road races at the Cup level, and nearly added the non-points Busch Clash on the Daytona Int’l Speedway road course Tuesday night.
Make no mistake, though, Elliott came on at the end of last year with a bang.
He led 389 of the final 812 laps at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway, respectively, capping off his championship run with back-to-back wins and showcasing his ability to take over a race.
But Elliott’s championship moment last November was anything but an arrival.
Elliott still has holes on his résumé at a handful of tracks, namely the sweeping ovals like Michigan Int’l Speedway, Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway, as well as Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track.
But the Dawsonville, Ga., native is slowly filling out his superstar status, and that headlines the many storylines entering the new NASCAR Cup Series season.
“I don’t think we are at our best in every category, which is really cool for me and something I think our team should take a lot of pride in,” Elliott said. “To have the kind of result we had last year but also know that we can still improve in some pretty big ways is exciting.”
Schedule changes aside, the departure of Jimmie Johnson marks a new era for NASCAR.
Kyle Busch now stands as the lone multi-time Cup Series champion active in the sport, which halts a 51-year streak of at least two multi-time Cup titlists racing concurrently.
The last time that happened was in 1969, when Richard Petty was the lone wolf with two titles before David Pearson scored his second straight championship.
Whether it’s a heart to race or simply keeping up with the times, it’s only right that Elliott is starting to fill out his makeup as NASCAR’s lead star and finding a path to make the new decade his own.
In the 1950s, it was Lee Petty. In the 1960s, it was Pearson.
In the 1970s, it was Richard Petty and Cale Yarbrough. In the 1980s, it was Darrell Waltrip.
In the 1990s, it was Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. In the 2000s, it was Jimmie Johnson.
Could the 2020s be Chase Elliott’s era? He certainly hopes that will be the case.
“We want more,” Elliott said. “We’re not trying to play defense. We just simply want more. That needs to be our outlook and we’re trying to keep it as simple as that.”
Elliott’s status as a new-age superstar would be further cemented with a victory in The Great American Race. His best Daytona 500 finish to date is 14th, earned in 2017.
The 63rd Daytona 500 goes green at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, with live coverage on FOX, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.