(Press release from Camping World SRX Series)
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series Champion Will Compete with Father in Season Finale
Chase Elliott, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, will compete in the Camping World SRX Series season finale July 17 at the Nashville (Tenn.) Fairgrounds Speedway. He will join his father, Bill Elliott, in the race that will air live at 8 p.m. EDT on the CBS Television Network and streamed on Paramount+ Premium.
Chase won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship and Bill won the 1988 Cup Series title. They are just the third father-son combo to win Cup Series championships, joining the Pettys (Lee: 1954, 1958, 1959 and Richard: 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1979) and the Jarretts (Ned: 1961, 1965 and Dale: 1999).
“Racing is such a big part of our lives and I’m genuinely excited to compete with my dad in the SRX race at Nashville,” Chase said. “We’ve been together at racetracks hundreds of times and only once before have we competed on the same track together. It’s an awesome opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The lone time Chase and Bill competed together on the same track was on Oct. 20, 2013 in the Alabama Pro 125 Late Model race at South Alabama Speedway. Chase won and Bill finished fourth.
Both Elliotts have experience at Nashville. Chase raced at the half-mile speedway countless times in a Super Late Model, winning the prestigious All American 400 in 2013. Bill competed in seven Cup Series races at the track with a best finish of fifth in the 1983 Marty Robbins 420.
“My experience at Nashville is pretty dusty, so I might have to lean on Chase to give me some pointers from his time there in a Late Model,” Bill said. “It could be a bit of a role reversal with him teaching me.
“But it truly is a wonderful opportunity to be able to race with my son at Nashville. Obviously, I’m incredibly proud of all that he’s accomplished. For years, he watched me and now I’m watching him. But for one night in Nashville, we’ll both have the same viewpoint.”
The Camping World SRX Series races at Slinger (Wis.) Speedway this Saturday night before it caps its inaugural season at Nashville. Bill is one of the 10 regular drivers making up the 12-driver field in all six Camping World SRX Series races.
“Bill and I worked together for five years at Evernham Motorsports and Chase was always around during that time,” said Ray Evernham, co-founder of the Camping World SRX Series. “Bill was instrumental in helping get our race team established and competitive, and Chase saw his dad’s work effort firsthand. It’s an understatement to say how cool it’s been to see Chase grow up and become such a great racer. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
Bill raced for Evernham from 2001 through 2005 and the duo won four races together, including the 2002 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Hopefully taking Ribbs place because that guy doesn’t belong out there.
Both the geezers Ribbs and Elliot are struggling but they’re fine. Elliot played injured. Ribbs had the Timex timely move of the race last time out missing Tracy after Santos got into him. That could have been a serious t-bone situation.
At least Elliot was mixing it up and making some passes in the first two. The only time I have only seen Ribbs getting passed unless someone is stopped on the track.
The camera is not on the tail end of the field and Ribbs has made passes in competition as the race by race results indicate. Still there is no doubt on the whole his performance has been the least productive of all the drivers that’s simply a fact.
It could be unfair but I can’t help but wonder when it’s pointed out not once but twice if the color of his skin is in play here or perhaps that combined with his combative reputation. Uppity comes to mind his word, his story not mine. I wonder when it’s in the absence of any other comment regarding the race. Just the one observation.
So what if Ribbs performance has netted him little. Someone has to be last and last in this group is still pretty special considering the elite nature of the group. He is after all part of a reality show appealing to a wider audience, his story is compelling and he’s loaded with personality. He was one of the first to observe how this thing would go suggesting a lot of banging and some raised temperatures and he was right.
What’s the harm is showing a guy that’s been an accomplished driver in the past breaking barriers a little respect regardless of his performance on the track?