@nascarcasm: What has Chase Elliott been up to since we last raced at Phoenix?

Quite a bit actually.

Since winning the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway this past November, Chase Elliott has been a very busy man. There was no extended vacation. He was a man on the go. Here’s a recap.

First, before leaving Phoenix Raceway, he took a picture with two of his biggest fans.

Next up was the big championship celebration/hootenanny in Chase’s hometown of Dawsonville, Georgia. Chase Elliott can do burnouts right through the middle of his hometown and it’s fine, but I do it and I get my drivers’ license revoked. Must be nice, Chase. Must be nice.

Sometime after this, Chase Elliott, to the surprise of no one, won the 2020 Most Popular Driver award. Chase posted a video thanking everyone, and then told the presenters, “Just put it up there with all the others, please.”

At this point Chase Elliott said “Well, it’s been almost a month since I raced on pavement, so Snowball Derby in early December it is.” Chase finished third in the esteemed super late model event, which he won in 2015.

OK so NOW he probably relaxed and went on vacation, right? NOT. It was off to Millbridge in mid-December alongside fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson. Chase finished in the top five of both features in what would be a warm-up for the Chili Bowl…and as it turns out, Bristol Motor Speedway also. Sixty-six percent of the drivers in this photo are named Chase, BTW.

Next up was the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in mid-January. Chase was unable to advance past the F-main, but he enjoyed himself, probably because “Chili Bowl” sounds like something on the Dawsonville Pool Room menu.

OK NOW did he take a vacation? Far from it. Chase joined Action Express to run the Rolex 24 alongside drivers Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani and Mike Conway in a Cadillac DPi. This began a stretch where Chase Elliott spent so much time at Daytona International Speedway he eventually knew concession workers by name. Chase’s car eventually suffered a mechanical failure, but he enjoyed this too. It’s rare you get to drive a race car at Daytona at 11 p.m. and it isn’t the result of Mother Nature being a complete jerk again.

OK so NOW Chase Elliott was done with other forms of racing, right? TRICK. Right before the Busch Clash, it was the USAC National Midgets in Ocala, Florida. Is he sailing into Turn 1 at the Roval and locking up his brakes, because the guy just does not stop.

Next up was the season-opening Busch Clash where nothing of note really happened so go ahead and move on to the next slide.

During this same time, Chase Elliott grew a mesmerizing mustache that really screams “Owner Of Globo Gym.”

Shortly thereafter, WWE superstars Street Profits presented Chase with a custom-made WWE-style championship belt. We expected Kyle Busch to blindside Chase and win the belt like he did that one time with the WWE 24/7 championship belt, but it did not happen, much to our disappointment.

Chase Elliott then finished runner-up in the Daytona 500 in what was a relatively uneventful final lap.

At the Daytona road course the following week, Chase led 44 of 70 laps but was shuffled back on a restart with 13 to go. He wound up getting spun out through the grass, but don’t feel bad because like 90 percent of the field did as well and still very well could be at this very moment.

Miami was uneventful for Chase. He led a few laps but finished 14th as him teammate William Byron won the race by the length of the Snowpiercer.

Finally, there was Las Vegas which we just won’t talk about. Anyways, we now head back to Phoenix, where Chase has a chance to go back to back and earn a spot in the playoffs!