Yes it's not really 'old' history...but, last night, me along with a bunch of race fans from down in Dawsonville traveled up to Greenville, SC to watch Chase Elliott's debut in the Nascar K&N Pro Series season opener at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway. But first, we had to stop by and see Mr. J.B Day and his museum.I think that was the real reason we went...the race was just an added bonus. So after spending an hour at J.B's, we headed to the track just down the road. And by the time we got in, the autograph session was going on. We quickly found Chase and his mom who was taking pictures, and started talking. And the thing that surprised me was that he qualified way back about 24th or 25th. He started alongside Ben Kennedy, the great-grandson of Bill France, the grandson of Bill Jr, and the nephew of Brian France, the current C.E.O of Nascar. He had maybe a line of 10 people next to his car. Chase on the other hand had a line almost to the exit of turn 4! The announcer kept on asking the folks to rap it up and get back to the stands. But they wouldn't listen. All the other fans of the other drivers went back to the stands, but Elliott's fans stayed and stayed until after the 5th time of the announcer saying "I hate to disappoint the Chase Elliott fans, but you must get back in the stands." So the 150 lap race started, and within 25 or so laps, Chase was just a few cars from last place and was just about to get lapped. I was worried. Then around lap 50, there were 3 cautions in a row, the third caution, he came in for some gas. By lap 75, he was still only 21st. I was hoping he could win the race, but at this point, I was just hopeful that he would finish the race with no damage on his car. A caution flew as some one spun in front of him, as he was inching threw, someone barley clipped his bumper. Just a small piece came off the car. I wasn't worried. Then probably 10-15 laps later, another wreck happened in front of him, and while trying to avoid it, he got rear-ended and spun around. I thought that it was the end of his hopes of getting a good finish and would get many laps down while repairing the car. But for once, I was completely wrong! In fact, his dad and spotter, Bill Elliott, told him not to come in, he needed track position. Well one thing led to another, and since some cars were wrecked for the night. With 40 to go, I traveled to the concession stands to get a drink and a burger. But unfortunately, I left during the most exciting time of the race. By the time I got back to the camper that Mr. Day let us borrow (since it has a platform on top to get a bird's eye view) Chase wound up in 7th place. I couldn't believe it. There was around 20 laps to go, give or take a few laps, and a caution flew (The race was loaded with cautions) so it was another double-file restart with Elliott starting 7th. Within 3 laps, another caution was out, but this time, he restarted 6th. He was really moving! On the final restart with about 10 to go (The scoreboard wasn't working, so the flag was the only way I knew the laps) he passed another car to be in 5th. But on the final lap, Chase passed one more car to bring it home in 4th. I honestly believe that if he had 15 or 20 more laps, he could've won in his first start. And the thing is, is that he was racing against the likes of Max Gresham (son of the owner of Gresham Motorsports Park, driving for Joe Gibbs) Son of Junior Johnson, son of an F1 Champion, son of Larry McReynolds, great-grandson of Bill France Sr.,etc. The eventual winner drove for Micheal Waltrip in the 00. After the race, we just had to see Chase and congratulate him. So we went to his red hauler(the size of a cup hauler!) and just walked up the winning crew-chief to congradulate him along with lots of other big names. The funny thing he told me was "What's wierd was that once I wrecked my car, we got better".
Anyway....just thought I'd share what I done on Saturday Night!
-Cody
updated by @cody-dinsmore: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
