NASCAR: Chase Elliott and the ‘boring story’ how he got his name
By Asher Fair
2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott once shared the simple, “boring” story on how he went from William Clyde Elliott to Chase Elliott as a child.
Speaking to Beyond the Flag about Peacock documentary CHASE, which was released last August and takes viewers to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s hometown of Dawsonville, Georgia for a personal walk through his rise to the top of stock car racing and all of the individuals who helped him to get where he is today, Chase Elliott detailed another personal story that goes way back.
Chase Elliott’s full name is the same as his father’s: William Clyde Elliott. There is no “Chase” in that name.
But there’s a reason why we all know the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who became the five-time winner of the NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver Award last week, as “Chase Elliott”.
It’s not William Elliott, Bill Elliott Jr. (after his father, who went by Bill), Will Elliott, or something along those lines.
Following his fifth straight Most Popular Driver Award, let’s revisit that interview, where he explained to us the simple yet “pretty boring story” on why that is.
“It was a nickname given to me — this is the story I’ve heard, obviously I don’t remember this — this is a nickname given to me like right, not long after I was born,” Elliott told Beyond the Flag. “My godmother was there and, somehow or another, said that my name, that I should go by Chase, and it stuck.
“And that was the story I’ve heard, and it’s really as simple as that. Somebody just said basically, ‘He looks like a Chase and that’s what we should call him,’ and everybody liked it. That’s what I’ve always gone by. Pretty boring story, but that’s how it originated!”
And here’s an interesting fact to go along with that: Chase Elliott, William Byron and Bubba Wallace all actually have the same first name (and no, Bubba’s first name isn’t Darrell).
Obviously, only one of them goes by it.
Next. JGR still have a big decision to make. dark
Elliott is under contract to continue driving the No. 9 Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick’s team through the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season. He began driving full-time for the team in 2016 and has driven the No. 9 Chevrolet since 2018.