Chase Elliott has a mission to accomplish this weekend as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval returns to the Cup Series schedule. He can match his Hall of Fame father by winning The Brickyard 400.
Bill Elliott, also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, won the crown jewel race back in 2002. This was one of his six crown jewel wins -- three Southern 500s, two Daytona 500s, one Brickyard 400 -- but it was the only one that the younger Elliott remembers.
Elliott was able to celebrate the win with his father that day in 2002. More than 20 years later, he hopes to repay the favor.
"It was the only marquee, major if you will, win that I was around for," Elliott said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "So it's always been really special. I always knew how much that race meant to him. And you know because of that, I've always had a lot of admiration for the event.
"It's always been something in my mind that I would love to match and be able to share that moment with the shoe on the other foot. I feel like that would be really, really cool."
Elliott has 19 wins in his Cup career and a championship. He has won on road courses, intermediate tracks, a short track, and a superspeedway. What he hasn't done yet, however, is secure a crown jewel.
The younger Elliott has six starts in The Brickyard 400. His first was in 2015 as he finished 18th. Elliott's best finish in the crown jewel race was ninth in 2019 and his worst finish was 39th in 2017 due to an engine issue.
With the Indianapolis race moving to the road course in 2021, Elliott could not pursue a crown jewel that was in his father's possession. This is no longer the case as Cup teams return to the 2.5-mile oval on Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC).
Now, he will have an opportunity to finally kiss the bricks, something he did not do as a child when his father won.
"When we left, I didn't really think as much about it," Elliott said. "But certainly coming back, I'm like, yeah -- if I were to ever win this race, this is definitely how I'd want to do it, if I had a choice, for sure.
"Being here was great regardless, whether we raced on the road course or the oval. But I'm excited that we're back on the oval."