“I frankly, don’t really care a whole lot about the rest of them. I just wanna do good.” Chase Elliott on his young competitors.
In 1988, Bill Elliott went to victory lane a Bristol Motor Speedway. The was his 24th win in the NASCR Winston Cup Series and his first at Bristol Motor Speedway.
In 2018, Chase Elliott will undergo a number change. From #24 to #9, the same number as his father.
It’s a number he started racing go-karts with. Later, he picked up a championship in the NASCAR Xfinity Series piloting the #9. All his short track days, were also in the #9. “My favorite number, by far,” he says.
Bristol Motor Speedway
30 years later. What would it mean to you to get a win at Bristol in the #9?
“Bristol’s such a cool place,” Chase Elliott says from NASCAR media day. “We have some great friends in that area. It’s actually not that far from our house in North Georgia.”
“I love going there. I really love the area, where the race track’s at. And the race track, the vibe there, it speaks for itself.”
“I love racing there. It would be amazing, to get a win at Bristol. It’s such a cool track. If you can win a race at Bristol, that’s definitely one, you know, you gotta earn those.”
“You have to earn all of them nowadays. But, that one for sure, is a tough race. A very physical race track on the driver.”
Young talent in NASCAR
During NASCAR’s transitional period, there’s pressure on the young kids to preform. Somebody is going to breakout of the pack and become the new star of the sport.
“It’s important to be impactful all the time. I mean, there’s a lot of people that rely on drivers to do their job. I don’t think it’s any more important now than it’s ever been.”
“Not for the sake of all of us needing to do good. I frankly, don’t really care a whole lot about the rest of them. I just wanna do good myself. Not to be selfish, I just think that’s the way everybody’s got to look at things, in general.”
“You can’t be pulling for somebody else to do good or you’re never going to do good yourself. That’s the way I see it.”
Retirement cycle
With the young talent in NASCAR, we’ve lost a few to retirement. And that fast passed retirement cycle isn’t done just yet.
“The veterans of our sport have been here for a long time. A lot of those guys were racing in the early 2000’s. So, that’s been almost 20 years ago.”
“A lot of those guys have families. a lot of them have championships, some of them have more than one. They’re kinda looking for that next chapter of their life. Which I’m sure we can all respect and understand.”
“And there’s going to be a new guy that comes in to replace them. There’s an awful lot of talent that’s coming in that’s proven themselves either outside of NASCAR or inside of NASCAR. I think it’s cool to see some fresh faces.
More
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