What a dominating show we got last Sunday! Chase Elliott was the belle of the ball at Bowman Gray, having clinched the pole after posting the fastest speed. During the main race, he never lost sight of the Cook Out Clash trophy – Elliott led for 171 of the total 200 laps en route to victory. Not only did Elliott impress everyone with his dominance, but he also stamped his name in a rich legacy.

NASCAR has held the Clash since 1971 as the warm-up session ahead of the main Cup Series season. But this exhibition race holds immense prestige in the premier stock car racing series, as numerous racing luminaries have won it. They include the Earnhardts – and Chase Elliott just carved out his family name alongside them.

Chase Elliott is glad to join the ‘elite’

The Elliotts and the Earnhardts hold hallowed space in NASCAR’s history. First of all, the two father-son duos have absolutely dominated the Most Popular Driver awards. Bill Elliott is the highest achiever, having clinched the award 16 times – 1984-1988, 1991-2000, and 2002. Then Dale Earnhardt Sr. or the Intimidator, was posthumously awarded in 2001.

His son Dale Jr. then took it up for 15 seasons, followed by Chase Elliott, who just clinched his 7th MPD. Now, with the conclusion of Bowman Gray, these two racing families have another joint glory to boast about.

Upon clinching the Bobby Allison Memorial trophy, Chase Elliott joined his father in winning a Clash race – Bill Elliott won in 1987. Elliott reflected on his achievement post-race: “That is really cool… You know, any time you have special event races like this or whatever, you always wanna win it, even though it’s not a points race just like the All-Star Race or whatever it may be. So that’s really cool – certainly gonna take some time to reflect on that.” What’s more, remains how they also became the second father-son duo to win it after the Earnhardts.

Chase Elliott beamed with pride as he bowed to the honor of adding another Elliott-Earnhardt legacy. “To join Dale and Dale Jr, it’s a pretty elite group to be a part of. I certainly don’t take that for granted.”

Elliott continued by hailing the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team for allowing him this victory. “It was a great weekend…not just tonight, but just a really good effort all-round for our team. Great week of prep, had a really good Saturday – put us in a great position to capitalize today which was the ultimate goal. I think it all started obviously in the shop and then how we executed yesterday.”

The Earnhardts and the Elliotts have one more thing to boast about together. As Chase Elliott respects this legacy, the other side also does the same.

Pushing Elliott to be his best

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Clinching MPD awards and Clash trophies are not the only places where the Elliotts meet the Earnhardts. Chase Elliott won the All-Star Race in 2020, followed by his father in 1986. Dale Sr. won the same race in 1987, 1990, and 1993 while Dale Earnhardt Jr. achieved the feat in 2000.

But enough talk about winning races – Elliott started driving for JR Motorsports, a team co-owned by Dale Jr and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller. Elliott also drove the No. 9 car under JRM, which his father raced from 1977 to 1991 and again from 2001 to 2003.

Likewise, Kelley Earnhardt Miller also cheered for Chase Elliott. She wanted him to achieve his own mojo in the sport instead of trying to replicate his father’s glory. In 2014, she said, “I don’t think that Chase or (other young drivers such as) Ryan Blaney or Jeb Burton or anybody else has to live up to their what fathers accomplished on track. The most important thing to me is to stand up for the character and integrity that they had as people because I think that’s what will be most remembered (for a) long time… But the success is always great, to kind of have that in your pocket as well.”

Evidently, the two powerhouse families of NASCAR are interconnected in more than just winning races. That means Chase Elliott can flaunt the Clash trophy with even more pride.