CONCORD, N.C. — Chase Elliott’s career all led up to Sunday.
Elliott, at the ripe old age of 24, claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series championship with a victory in the Season Finale 500 Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway.
Winning the championship wasn’t easy. Nothing ever is at NASCAR’s top level. He first had to race his way into the championship round by winning the prior weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Then fast-forward to Sunday morning, when Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro failed pre-race inspection twice. That meant Elliott, who was scheduled to start from the pole, would have to start the 312-lap race from the rear of the field.
It didn’t matter.
Elliott stormed through the field, leading a race-high 153 laps on his way to victory and the series championship.
A little more than 10 years ago, the then 13-year-old Elliott was getting his stock car career started. In the fall of 2009, Elliott used a last-lap pass of Jeff Choquette to win a Pro All Stars Series super late model feature at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
It was a sign of things to come.
With the support of his father, 1988 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, Elliott hit the road for the next several years, winning races at historic race tracks throughout the Midwest and Southeast.
Included in his conquests were the prestigious Winchester 400 at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway, the All-American 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Fairgrounds Speedway and the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola Speedway. He also won premier events at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, Montgomery (Ala.) Motor Speedway and Georgia’s Lanier National Speedway.
It showed he knew how to drive, while proving he could win important races.
Recognizing Elliott’s talent, team owner Rick Hendrick signed Elliott to a contract in February of 2011. Elliott continued to race on short tracks while being groomed to one day join the Hendrick Motorsports flag ship.
Eventually, after earning the aforementioned accolades at the short-track level, Elliott made his NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series debut in 2013. He earned his first win in his sixth start that year at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.
The future was here, and the future was now.
One year later, Elliott was racing for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. As a rookie he won three times and claimed the series championship.
After another season in the Xfinity Series in 2015 that saw Elliott win once and finish second in the standings, he got the call to the Cup Series the following year. It took him a few years to get his feet beneath him, but in 2018 he earned his first series victory in a thrilling duel with Martin Truex Jr. at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l.
Fast-forward to Nov. 8, 2020 and Elliott celebrated at Phoenix Raceway after becoming a NASCAR Cup Series champion, just like his Hall of Fame father. They’re only the third father-son duo, joining Ned and Dale Jarrett and Lee and Richard Petty, to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
They do say apples don’t fall far from the tree. In this case, the old adage proved correct.