Chase Elliott continues Nationwide success

Chase Elliott, son of the legendary Bill Elliott, has quickly made a name for himself in NASCAR. Just two years ago, the highest NASCAR series Chase had competed in was the K&N Pro Series East. Last March (2013) he made his national-level debut in a Truck Series race in Martinsville, Virginia. In January, Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided that Elliott was ready for the Nationwide Series, and signed him to drive the full 2014 schedule for his team JR Motorsports, in Earnhardt's new fourth car, the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet.

Some people were surprised that Elliott got up to Nationwide so fast, because he hadn't run a full Truck schedule. But the 18-year-old from Georgia proved he was ready for NASCAR's number two series by winning back-to-back races in April at Texas and Darlington, in less than ten starts. After three months, Elliott won his third race yesterday at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois after leading the most laps. This also marks Elliott's 13th top-ten finish in 18 series starts.

Elliott's quick success in Nationwide competition as a rookie has made him a contender for both the series championship and the Most Popular Driver award, an award two other JR Motorsports drivers, Danica Patrick and Regan Smith, have won in the last two seasons. There has been speculation for more than a year that Sprint Cup car owner Rick Hendrick plans for Elliott to replace Jeff Gordon, another one of NASCAR's best, in the #24 car Gordon has driven his entire Cup career (and which no one else has driven) upon Gordon's retirement, which isn't expected until at least 2016. But fans know for sure that Chase Elliott will be very competitive and achieve a similar level of success to that of his father when he gets to Cup racing, especially based on his Nationwide season so far.