William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II is an American professional stock car driver currently competing in NASCAR Cup Series. Elliott drives the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy in Cup Series full-time and part-time in the Xfinity Series driving the the No. 17 Chevy for the same team. He was the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and was the 2014 Xfinity Series Champion, becoming the first rookie to win a national series championship and the youngest champion in that series.
Elliott began racing in the Cup Series on a full-time basis in 2016, replacing Jeff Gordon behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He was named the 2016 Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series. His 2020 championship was the first for Hendrick Motorsports since 2016. He has 19 wins in the Cup Series, including 7 on road courses.
He is the son of 1988 Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott. The Elliotts are the third father-son NASCAR Cup Series champions in history, along with Lee and Richard Petty and Ned and Dale Jarrett.
Racing Career[]
Late Models & Developmental Racing[]
Elliott began racing go-karts at 8 years of age. By age 12, he earned 7 state titles, including the Georgia Semi-Pro Championship. [1] He was featured alongside thirteen other athletes in a July 13, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated as a potential star. He raced Late Models throughout the Southeast in 2009, earning 4 wins, 11 Top 5s and 21 Top 10s in 28 starts across various series. In 2010, Elliott scored 12 wins and 38 Top 10 finishes in 40 starts. He was named the Blizzard Series, Miller Lite and Gulf Coast Champion and won the Georgia Asphalt Pro Late Model Series Rookie of the Year Award. In October of 2010, Elliott won the Winchester 400.
By February 2011, Hendrick Motorsports signed Elliott to a three-year developmental contract. He competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Series, earning 3 Top 5s and 6 Top 10s en route to a 9th place finish in the points standings. He also won the 2011 Snowball Derby, becoming that race's youngest winner, and was named Sports Illustrated's High School Player of the Week in April of that year.[2]
In 2012, Elliott competed full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, finishing 4th in points and winning 1 race, 6 Top 5s, 9 Top 10s, and 1 pole. He also competed in 6 races in the ARCA Menards Series, earning 3 Top 5s, 6 Top 10s and 1 pole. He also won the Snowflake 100 and World Crown 300.
In 2013, Elliott won the All American 400 & World Crown 300, becoming the first driver to win all of the country's largest short track races: The Snowball Derby, World Crown 300, All American 400 and Winchester 400. It also appeared that Elliott would become the first driver to sweep the Snowflake 100 and Snowball Derby in the same weekend, but upon post-race inspection, a piece of tungsten was found in Elliott's car, which disqualified him and the victory in the Snowball Derby was awared to Erik Jones. Elliott would win the Snowball Derby again in 2015 after Christopher Bell was disqualified. Elliott competed in 5 races in the ARCA Menards Series in 2013, winning once and earning 3 Top 5s and 4 Top 10s.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series[]
Elliott began competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2013, starting 9 races in the No. 94 Aaron's Dream Machine/HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. In those 9 races, he started no lower than 16th and won the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. He earned 5 Top 5 finishes and 7 Top 10s, and won the Pole at the UNOH 200 at Bristol. He became the youngest Pole Winner and Race Winner in Truck Series history.
NASCAR Xfinity Series[]
In 2014, Elliott drove the full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He competed in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. On April 4, 2014, Elliott won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, defeating Cup Series regulars Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch after taking the lead with 16 laps to go. 1 week later, Elliott won the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington by passing Elliott Sadler on the last lap after restarting sixth with two laps to go. He also won the EnjoyIllinois.com 300 at Chicagoland Speedway after holding off Trevor Bayne. At Phoenix, Elliott clinched the Nationwide Series championship, becoming the first rookie and youngest driver to win a NASCAR national series title. Later in the year, he was named the Most Popular Driver for the series. He had 3 wins, 16 Top 5s, 26 Top 10s and 2 Poles in 2014.
Elliott returned to the No. 9 NAPA Chevy in 2015, but earned his first DNF of his Xfinity Series career at Daytona. Elliott would win his first race of the season on September 11 at Richmond, snapping a 36-race winless streak. He battled through the season with Chris Buescher, but finished second in points. He had 1 win, 11 Top 5s and 27 Top 10s in 2015.
NASCAR Cup Series[]
On January 29, 2015, it was announced that Elliott would compete in 5 Cup Races in 2015 and take over the No. 24 car from a retiring Jeff Gordon in 2016. In his 5 starts in 2015, he had 2 lead lap finishes and 1 DNF while driving the No. 25 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
In 2016, Elliott won the pole for the Daytona 500 with a speed of 196.314 miles per hour, becoming the youngest pole-sitter in Daytona 500 history. Elliott led three laps in the race, but spun on lap 18, damaging his car in the grass and finishing 37th. He earned his first Top 10 at Atlanta the following week and earned his first Top 5 later in the spring at Texas. He led 51 laps at Pocono, leading the most laps in a race for the first time. He won the fan vote to advance into the All-Star Race and finished 7th after nearly winning the final segment of the Sprint Showdown and losing to Kyle Larson in a photo finish. He qualified for the Chase but was eliminated in after the Round of 12. He finished 10th in the final points standings with 10 Top 5s, 17 Top 10s, and 2 Poles. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year award.
In 2017, Elliott won the pole for the Daytona 500 for the second time in his career. He went on to win the first Can-Am Duel race, becoming the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1996 to win the pole and the qualifying race. Elliott won his first stage at Martinsville, but was involved in a 16 car pileup at Talladega which saw his car get airborne. Elliott finished second at Michigan in June, his 3rd straight second place finish at the track, and finished second to Kyle Busch at Dover after getting stuck behind the slower car of Ryan Newman. At the fall race at Martinsville, Elliott had a chance to win after taking the lead from Brad Keselowski with 4 laps to go, but a bump from Denny Hamlin with 3 laps to go caused Elliott to spin. Elliott drove Hamlin to the outside wall during the cooldown lap, unhappy with the way he was raced. He later got an apology from Hamlin after the race via Twitter. Elliott would fall out of the Chase during the Round of 8 at Phoenix, but would finish 5th in the points standings with 12 Top 5s, 21 Top 10s and 1 Pole.
In 2018, Hendrick Motorsports renumbered Elliott's car from No. 24 to No. 9, however he retained his crew including crew chief Alan Gustafson. Elliott would win the second Can-Am Duel at Daytona, but finished 33rd after getting caught up in an accident on Lap 102 of the Daytona 500. He won his first pole of the season at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and finally captured his first career Cup Series victory with a win at the Go Bowling at the Glen. It was Hendrick Motorsports' 250th win and Elliott became the youngest driver to win on a road course. In the Chase, Elliott won his second career race at Dover, followed by another win at Kansas later in the season. Once again, he fell out of the Chase after the Round of 8 at Phoenix, but finished 6th in the standings with 3 wins, 11 Top 5s, 21 Top 10s and 1 pole.
In 2019, Elliott won at Talladega and Watkins Glen, qualifying for the Chase. At the Charlotte Roval, Elliott was leading the field when he locked his brakes and collided with the Turn 1 tire barrier on lap 65. He took advantage of several cautions to retake the lead on lap 104 and held on to win his third race of the season. He once again failed to advance to the Championship Round after crashing and finishing 39th at Phoenix. He earned 3 wins, 11 Top 5s, 15 Top 10s and 4 poles en route to a 10th place points finish.
In 2020, Elliott won the pole at Phoenix and earned his first Top 10 finish. After the return to competition following the Covid-19 break, Elliott would be plagued by late misfortunes. With 28 laps to go in the Toyota 500 at Darlington, he was spun by Kyle Busch. In the next race, the Coca-Cola 600, Elliott was leading when teammate William Byron's flat tire resulted in an overtime finish. Elliott's team elected to pit before the restart, dropping him out of the lead and causing him to finish third (which was promoted to second following the disqualification of Jimmie Johnson). Elliott would rebound and win the Alsco Uniforms 500 after passing Harvick for the lead with 27 laps to go. He went on to win the 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol, making the Elliott's the second father-son duo to win the All-Star Race, joining Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Elliott won his second points paying race at the Go Bowling 325 at the Daytona Road Course. Elliott would qualify for the Chase and win the Bank of America Roval 400, his fourth straight road course victory. Entering the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville, Elliott needed to win to advance to the Championship round. He passed Martin Truex, Jr. with 43 laps to go to win the race, locking himself into the Championship round at Phoenix.
Elliott started last at the Championship race after failing pre-race inspection twice. He went on to lead a race-high 153 laps to win the race and the championship. At the age of 24, he became the second youngest driver to win a Cup Championship.
In 2021, Elliott finished 2nd in the Daytona 500, but won his first race of the season at the inaugural race at the Circuit of the Americas. His victory achieved two milestones: the 268th victory in the Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports, tying Petty Enterprises for the most Cup victories by a race team, and Chevrolet's 800th Cup victory as a manufacturer. He finished 13th at the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville, but was disqualified when his car had 5 loose lug nuts during post-race inspection. Elliott would win again at Road America, but became embroiled in a feud with Kevin Harvick at the Bristol Night Race. The feud carried over to the Charlotte Roval, when Harvick wrecked Elliott before wrecking out of the race himself. Elliott clinched a spot in the Championship round by winning both stages at the Xfinity 500, but finished 5th at the season finale race at Phoenix, the lowest of the Championship 4 contenders.
In 2022, Elliott signed a 5-year extension with Hendrick Motorsports. He once again qualified for the Chase, earning 10 consecutive Top 15 finishes during the early part of the season, including a win at Dover. He earned his second win of the season at Nashville and third win at Atlanta, becoming the second Georgia-born driver to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, joining his father. Elliott would finish third at Pocono, but was later awarded the win when Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified after their cars failed post-race inspections. Elliott clinched the regular-season championship with one race to go after a 5th place finish at Richmond and a 4th place finish at Watkins Glen. Elliott won at Talladega to clinch a spot in the Round of 8, He again qualified for the Championship round, but finished 4th in points after being spun into the inside wall by Ross Chastain with 119 laps to go.
In 2023, Elliott began the season with a 38th place finish at Daytona followed by a 2nd place finish at Fontana. He then sustained a fractured tibia from a snowboarding accident in Colorado, and Josh Berry was announced as his substitute driver on March 3. Elliott returned to the car at Martinsville, finishing 10th. At Charlotte, Elliott was pushed into the wall by Denny Hamlin, who got loose under him. In retailiation, Elliott intentionally hooked Hamlin in the right rear, wrecking both cars on the frontstretch. The next day, NASCAR suspended Elliott one race. Elliott was unable to win a race and missed the Playoffs for the first time in his career, but the team was eligible for the Owner's playoffs. Elliott finished 17th in points, with 7 Top 5s and 15 Top 10s. The No. 9 car and team finished 10th in the Owners Championship.