Chase Elliott’s racing didn’t stop with NASCAR season. Why that should worry other teams

Rick Hendrick said he’d never encourage any of his team’s drivers to race in the NASCAR offseason. But for now, he’ll allow it.

“The safety’s a lot better than it used to be, but you can get hurt in anything,” the Hendrick Motorsports team owner said ahead of the 2021 NASCAR season.

It wasn’t without some persuading that Hendrick agreed to allow 2020 Cup champion and the team’s No. 9 driver Chase Elliott to run a packed racing schedule between last November and this February. Drivers, including Elliott, have credited HMS executive Jeff Gordon with helping open Hendrick’s eyes to the benefits of extracurricular racing.

Gordon’s early career in the 1980s was, after all, filled with sprint cars, dirt tracks and USAC events before he became a four-time Cup champion for Hendrick in the 1990s and early 2000s. Gordon raced his first and only Chili Bowl Nationals event in 1990, and watched his team’s drivers enter this year’s race, which was won by new No. 5 Chevy driver Kyle Larson for his second consecutive CB Nationals title in January.

“I just think it’s that spirit,” Hendrick said. “I would rather have a guy that wants to drive every day than a guy that doesn’t want to do anything but show up to run a race.”

Elliott perhaps has always been that racing-hungry guy, but this year it finally translated into on-track opportunities — whatever the model of the car or material of the course. Since winning the Cup Series championship in November, Elliott said he’s had his busiest offseason yet while racing stock cars at the highest level.

He entered the super late model Snowball Derby race (half-mile paved oval in Florida) in early December; a doubleheader event at Millbridge Speedway (1/6-mile dirt oval in North Carolina) in late December; Chili Bowl Nationals (1/4 mile dirt oval in Oklahoma) in mid January; the sports car endurance Rolex 24 at Daytona race (3.56-mile combined road course in Florida) in late January; and the USAC Winter Dirt Games opener at Bubba Raceway (3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track in Florida) a few days before NASCAR’s exhibition Busch Clash that kicked off the 2021 season.

When asked why he’s doing so much racing now, especially after he’s already achieved one of NASCAR’s highest honors as Cup champion, Elliott asked, “Why not?”

“I had some opportunities to go and do different things,” Elliott said. “I’m 25. I’m trying to live life and drive racecars and be good at what I can be good at.”

Elliott said he’s also trying to face new challenges, get uncomfortable and ultimately have fun learning new racing disciplines.

“I’ve really just enjoyed my winter and enjoyed racing, and kinda — I don’t want to say re-found a passion or found it again, because I feel like it’s always been there — but just to go and seek out opportunities and have opportunities come to be able to go race.”

Hendrick Motorsports vice president of competition Chad Knaus said this has been the most aggressive he’s seen Elliott pursuing additional racing opportunities.

“I’ve just had a lot of fun with it,” Elliott said. “And I think that was something I’ve put a lot of emphasis on at the end of last year — is just enjoying those moments more.”

While his reason for diversifying his racing background is based in enjoyment, there is also a practical piece to Elliott getting additional seat time, especially before a season in which Cup practice and qualifying sessions are limited due to the pandemic.

“Every time you sit behind the wheel of a racecar, you’re going to learn something and get better at something,” Knaus said. “Whether it’s something you can definitely hang a hat on is something that could be argued, but just the reps are valuable.”

Elliott has been critical of his performance after certain events this winter. He called his first Rolex 24 stint “terrible” and “way off pace,” but the experience still proved valuable. Elliott noted during NASCAR’s Daytona 500 rain delay last Sunday that he’d be ready to race at any time of the night thanks to his earlier shift at Daytona in which he was driving between 2 and 4 a.m.

Elliott ended up finishing second at the Daytona 500.

Not all the credit can go to his late-night racing experience, but there are certain skills he’s picking up from his offseason ventures, particularly at dirt tracks. There are areas he said she’s still seeking to improve that could make him an even more dangerous competitor in a season that features more road course races where Elliott has dominated in the past.

“Understanding how to position your car, how to be around guys, how to move forward, how to restart and move forward and not just get taken advantage of is the area I need to get better,” Elliott said of his dirt racing performance.

In terms of his road course prowess, Elliott said he’s not letting past wins make him feel too comfortable this year. Five of his 11 career Cup wins have been on road courses. He was racing for the lead in the final seconds of the Clash at the Daytona road course before hitting Ryan Blaney, and he’s the defending Daytona road course winner from last season. The Cup Series races there next on Sunday. Elliott said “that narrative can change very quickly” about his team being dominant at road courses.

His crew chief, Alan Gustafson, noted other formidable road course racing teams and drivers this week, including Martin Truex Jr. and his No. 19 Toyota team.

“At the end of the day, I think you have to be good everywhere and I want to be good everywhere,” Elliott said. “We as a team want to get to the point where we can win any given week — road course, circle track, intermediate, dirt, whatever it is — we want to be able to win any time, and I think that the great teams and the great drivers are able to do that and I think we’re very capable of doing that.

“So where my head’s at, is just trying to be good everywhere.”

Hendrick said that in a “perfect world” his organization’s drivers wouldn’t be racing anything in the offseason.

“But it means so much to (Elliott),” Hendrick said. “And I think any time they can drive — whatever it is — it helps ‘em.”