Chase Elliott became the third son of a NASCAR Cup Series champion to win a championship of his own this past Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.
To wrap up his fifth season of full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition, Chase Elliott took the checkered flag at Phoenix Raceway to secure his first career championship in what was his first career appearance in the Championship 4.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver of the #9 Chevrolet finished ahead of fellow championship contenders Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano of Team Penske in second and third place, respectively, and Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing in fourth.
In doing so, the 24-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native became just the third son of a former champion to win a championship of his own.
He was not around for it, but Chase’s father, Bill, won the NASCAR Cup Series championship back in 1988.
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The other two father-son duos to pull off this feat have the names Petty and Jarrett. The Petty family was the first to pull off this historic feat, as Lee Petty won three titles in 1954, 1958 and 1959 before his son, Richard, came along and dominated, winning a record 200 races and a record seven championships in 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1979.
The Jarrett family was the second. Ned Jarrett won the first of his two championships in 1961 before winning another one in 1965, at which point both Pettys had already been crowned champions. Skip ahead 34 years, and his son, Dale, won the 1999 championship, making this the first father-son duo to pull it off in 35 years.
Now 21 years later, the Elliotts have joined the party with Chase’s first title.
Chase, like Bill, has won multiple Most Popular Driver Awards as well. Bill holds the all-time record with 16, while Chase has won the last two and is on pace to win it again in 2020, and likely for many years to come. Before Chase’s 2020 title, the Most Popular Driver Award winner had not won a championship since Bill won his title in 1988.