Driver Profile:

Bill Elliott's racing career started because his father wanted to keep his sons out of trouble.

George Elliott, Bill's father, started bringing his sons to the racetracks of North Georgia to spend a little quality time and to keep the boys occupied and out of trouble. Soon after, Bill became interested in racing and began making the local rounds.

Some years later Bill, all of 20 years old, took the green flag at North Carolina Speedway for his first Cup race. His family-run team struggled mightily to get the necessary funds to run in NASCAR's elite series, but six years later, help came.

Michigan-based businessman Harry Melling gave Elliott's team a financial boost. In 1983, Elliott ran his first complete season in Cup. On November 20 of that year, Elliott made his first trip to Victory Lane in Cup at Riverside International Raceway.

Elliott first got big-league notoriety in 1985, when he won 11 races and 11 poles. Victories in that season's Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega and the Southern 500 at Darlington brought him the first "Winston Million" and the nickname "Million Dollar Bill."

The feat also made Elliott the first Cup driver to appear the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Three years later, in 1988, Elliott won the NASCAR championship after posting six wins, six poles, 11 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in 29 races.

In 1992, Elliott left Melling and began a relationship with Junior Johnson that nearly paid immediate dividends. Elliott narrowly missed a second NASCAR championship, losing to Alan Kulwicki by just 10 points.

Perhaps Elliott's most noteworthy accomplishment is his dominance of the Most Popular Driver award. Elliott has taken the honor a record 16 times, including 10 consecutive awards from 1991-2000.

Despite all the accolades, Elliott says the business is always changing.

"Everything changes there so much. It changes year-to-year and even race-to-race. You're always having to adapt to the things that have changed since the last race."