Even though Chase Elliott today is already one of the finest drivers of his generation, he still has that one thing that separates the generational talent from the all-time greats; the hunger to get better.
For a racecar driver, and for that matter, any athlete, getting better means practicing, doing the most of what you love, or in other words, racing much as you can, even when your day job closes the shutter in off-season.
This is exactly what Chase Elliott has been doing for a while with him taking a pretty big swing last year by taking part in the Chili Bowl.
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Now, for the #9 driver, the Chili Bowl was pretty new territory, but for his Hendrick Motorsports, it probably isn’t that big a deal, Kyle Larson, the seasoned professional.
In fact, he had admitted in an interview ahead of his CBN debut last year, how the 2021 Cup Series champion is one of his two mentors and reference points for when he needs advice.
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Chase Elliott has a very small group of advisers
Speaking about Kyle Larson being in his corner as he geared up for Chili Bowl, Chase Elliott admitted that having the #5 driver is indeed an advantage, something he is appreciative of.
However, for the 2020 Cup champion, the lesser people giving advice are around, the better.
“I feel like there’s a lot of people you can lean on or want to, I think the smaller you keep that circle, the better because everybody has a different approach,” Elliott said. “I’ve tried to keep that pretty small honestly between Kyle (Larson) and (Chase) Briscoe.”
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“That’s really been only the two people I’ve talked too much about it.”
For Elliott, having “45 different opinions” means one gets “45 different ways of looking at something“, which will eventually come back to hurt him only.
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“So I think keeping that circle small is important,” he emphasized.