NASCAR Closes Out Season Energized By Elliott

Drivers, finally, stop your engines.

AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

NASCAR has waved the checkered flag on its frenetic 2020 season, a whirlwind of rescheduled and relocated races, some held with lots of fans, some fans, and no fans at all. The effort to complete all 38 races during the pandemic was rewarded with a new champion, who just happens to be NASCAR's reigning most popular driver.

Chase Elliott won three of the final five races, including Sunday's winner-take-all finale at Phoenix Raceway, to claim the first Cup of his career. His late-season surge upstaged Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, the two most dominant drivers this year, and elevated the second-generation NASCAR star alongside his Hall of Fame father as NASCAR champions.

It was a promising close for NASCAR, which very much needs its young stars in the spotlight. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a 12-time winner of the fan-selected most popular driver award but never won a championship. Elliott took the reins in 2018 after Earnhardt retired and rewarded his loyalists in just his fifth full season at NASCAR's top level.

AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Fans celebrate after Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, wins the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

He has faced quixotic expectations since he was 14 — that's when Rick Hendrick gave him a driver development contract — from peers who saw his heritage as a means to re-energizing a sport that saw its biggest stars trickle out of the driver's seat the last five years. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, and Earnhardt have all retired, and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson joined the group Sunday.

Elliott's instant popularity was ordained not for what he did in his Chevrolet, but because of his family tree, which dates to a NASCAR some fans still yearn for. Bill Elliott won the 1988 Cup title, 44 races, and fans voted "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" the most popular driver a record 16 times.

He would have kept winning the award, too, but Bill Elliott in 2001 removed his name from the ballot and encouraged fans to honor his late rival, Dale Earnhardt Sr.

AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, celebrates with his parents Cindy Elliott and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Chase Elliott, who turns 25 later this month and is NASCAR's third-youngest champion, is very much like his dad: soft-spoken outside of the car, calm and calculated behind the wheel. The family has never left its Georgia hometown of Dawsonville — a small town of fewer than 3,000 people an hour outside of Atlanta — and they still sound the siren at the local pool hall whenever an Elliott wins.

When Harvick was asked in 2017 what NASCAR needed to re-energize its base, he pointed directly to Elliott.

"NASCAR needs Chase Elliott to win," Harvick said. "Chase Elliott is the tie to the traditional NASCAR fan. It's the only shot they've got with the traditional NASCAR fan. His dad, the history and heritage of the sport, there isn't anybody else in the lineup that I can think of."

AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

He's won now. And at the same time, NASCAR seems to have stabilized.

The series for at least a decade has been adjusting to an ever-changing economic landscape, an aging fan base, declining television ratings and attendance, and a dearth of star power. When the pandemic put NASCAR on a 10-week pause in March, the series could have collapsed.

Instead, NASCAR was one of the first sports to resume competition, first to get fans back into the stands and first to complete its entire schedule. A new car originally scheduled for 2021 was postponed a year, but expectations of the car improving the business model have ignited interest among new team owners.

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - MAY 17: NASCAR President Steve Phelps walks the grid prior to the NASCAR Cup Series The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 17, 2020 in Darlington, South Carolina. NASCAR resumes the season after the nationwide lockdown due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

NASCAR President Steve Phelps called 2020 "the single most difficult year that we've faced as a sport," but a year in which the industry unified to keep cars on the track. Next year's season-opening Daytona 500 is still on schedule for Feb. 14 and plans now include spectators in the stands.

Uncertainty hangs over everything, but Phelps said NASCAR is in good shape.

"Will everyone's bottom line look more challenged? The answer is yes. Do I believe we as a sport are going to shut down? We are not," Phelps said. "Are we financially viable to move forward? We are. We are going to persevere and we are going to continue to put on races, bring that great racing to the fan base."

AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, speaks to the media after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Two of NASCAR's three championships at Phoenix were won in dramatic late shootouts and of the three new champions, Elliott is the oldest. Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed is 23; Xfinity Series winner Austin Cindric is 22.

In Elliott, NASCAR's most popular driver is also the champion for the first time since Bill Elliott's 1988 title. He's far from charismatic but has a Southern charm with all his "heck," "dang" and "shoot" exclamations that resonate with the sport.

The Cup solidifies his spot as the new face of NASCAR, of Hendrick Motorsports and of Chevrolet. But Elliott is humble, just like his dad, and not interested in labels.

AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 08: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, is congratulated by Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, and team owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale 500 and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 08, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

"I don't know that that's really for me to say who is or isn't the face of something," he said. "But from where I sit, it's the performance industry, right? It's entertainment from the outside looking in, but what makes my living is performing or not.

"I think me performing at a high level is going to take me a lot further in life than being the face of something."

 

© 2020 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.