Chasing the Elliott legacy
Georgia favorite wants to improve record at Atlanta
How odd and just a little bit hollow it would be if Chase Elliott finally did something grand on his home track today and no one was there to see it?
Since stepping up to NASCAR’s premier series in 2016, the next in line to the Bill Elliott Georgia racing legacy has not exactly soared at the place he should know best, Atlanta Motor Speedway. Four Cup races, no finish higher than fifth. Average finish: 10.5. Laps led (out of a total of 1,304): Zero.
“It has been,” Elliott said, “a rough go the last couple of years, disappointing for sure. Hopefully this weekend it will be a little better.”
He’ll arrive at today’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 as one of the clear favorites. Not a fan favorite, mind you, as there won’t be any fans at the track because of the coronavirus precautions. But a favorite nevertheless based on the fact he has been driving a rocket ship these past couple of weeks.
With a victory, a secondplace and a fourth-place finish among the five races back since NASCAR emerged from its induced coma, Elliott has returned as one of the lead leadfoots. He has been well-positioned to win four of those, only to be undone by a couple of laterace crashes (one of his doing, one not) and one caution near the finish, Elliott falling out of the lead in the Coca-Cola 600 on a decision to pit.
Which raised the question of whether Elliott should be happy for the way he and his team have come out of his sport’s long timeout or disappointed that he doesn’t have even more impressive finishes in the bank now?
“You can’t go back and change things now,” he said this week. “I’m certainly proud of how we have run, how we have contended. It’s a goal of mine to be a contender every week.
“In racing you’re not going to win every week, and we understand that,” he added. “What is feasible — and guys do this — is to be in contention every single week. There is a handful of drivers and teams that have a shot to win every single week, and there is no reason we can’t be among that group.”
As he has taken off in May, Elliott, at 25, is putting up the best argument yet that he is ready to contend for a Cup championship. His best finish in the points standing was fifth in 2017 — he was 10th last season. He’s currently third in points, with a bullet.
One very biased opinion has it that this is the year there’s an Elliott who is a Cup champion again — Bill won in1988.
“I think so, I really do. I feel good about it,” said Gordon Pirkle, who owns the Dawsonville Pool Room, upon which stands the loud siren that has sounded every time an Elliott has won a race. “With that car, he can come up from behind as good as anyone I’ve seen. And he wants it, and that makes a big difference.”
Just as Chase Elliott’s emergence is big for his North Georgia hometown, where also rightfully resides the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. According to Dawsonville’s mayor, Mike Eason, the Hall is working with Chase’s parents to flesh out an exhibit devoted to this generation of Elliott.
“It’s something we want to do because it represents our community so well,” Eason said.
Just as Dawsonville can use an Elliott bump, so can the entire sport. Chase came in advantaged by a powerful name in his sport. Fans have taken to him as they did his father, twice voting him NASCAR’s most popular driver. With seven race victories thus far, he has only turned to the prologue of his potential.
Maybe we’ll see as other sports modify themselves in response to the coronavirus, that their seasons are too long. Certainly, we have discovered that drivers don’t need to show up and practice for two days before a race, Elliott has pointed out.
“I think the product (since the return) has been great,” he said. “I think over time we have over-complicated weekend schedules and practice entirely too much. I know a lot of that is money-driven, and I get it that as the popularity grew over a period of time, tracks have tried to get all they could get. But I think in a lot of ways we have to get back to our roots.”
The greatest drawback to how races are currently run is the lack of fan feedback, and the sterile atmosphere surrounding what is meant to be a vivid event.
“To me, the weirdest experience I’ve had thus far was winning at Charlotte and getting out of the car and nobody being there,” Elliott said. “That was just kind of an awkward moment for me, honestly. I think for everybody who has won a race, it’s kind of weird. Typically you feed off the crowd in those moments whether it’s cheers or boos or whatever. If they’re making noise, that’s better than not, right?”
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