02. His mother did not push for him to become a racer
In a 2011 interview with SI.com, Cindy Elliott said she originally wanted Chase to play a different sport rather than follow in his father’s tire tracks and become an auto racer. “I did not encourage Chase to drive, at all. Bill did not either,” she said. “I took him to every baseball clinic they had at Young Harris College (near the Elliotts’ hometown of Dawsonville, Ga.). I tried to get him to play golf. But this is something that he’s always wanted to do.”
03. Chase attended his high school graduation ceremony and raced on the same weekend
Chase received his diploma from Kings Ridge Christian School in Alpharetta, Ga. on Saturday, May 17, 2014, then flew nearly 900 miles to prepare for the following day’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway. If taking time out to attend his graduation was a distraction, it certainly didn’t show on the track, as Chase finished fourth in the Sunday race.
04. Chase has already kissed the bricks at Indy
When Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, the track surface was made out of 3.2 million paving bricks. Those bricks were covered by asphalt in 1961 except for a 36-inch strip at the start-finish line. It has long been tradition that the winner of NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 kneels and kisses the bricks following the race, and Chase Elliott was able to do just that when he was only 6 years old.
Elliott joined his father at the fabled Yard of Bricks after Bill’s victory in the 2002 Brickyard 400, and it remains one of his most cherished memories of his father’s racing career. “That was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Chase said. “Even back then, I knew that was one of the biggest wins of his career and it meant a lot to him. I’m glad I got to experi
ence it.”
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