Hendrick GM hints at part of Elliott plan

Appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Hendrick Motorsports General Manager Doug Duchardt said Kenny Francis is expected to be atop the pit box for those efforts. Francis was previously Kasey Kahne‘s crew chief at Hendrick and is now in the newly created position of vehicle technical director.

“I went to the NASCAR Nationwide banquet and was reminded that Chase is 18 years old,” Duchardt said. “He’s going to run Nationwide again next year and we’ve announced that we’re going to run some Cup races with him in 2015. I would expect that Kenny (Francis) is going to crew chief those races for him. I think that’s going to be a fun aspect of next year to see how Chase does in that. We’ll see how things are going in ’15 and see what the right steps are in the future. Right now, we’re just going to take 2015 and take a look at how things are progressing.

” … It’s like having this prospect in Triple-A that’s batting .380 and when is he coming up to big club and run? We’ll work on that, we’ll see where that all heads.”

As far back as August, team owner Rick Hendrick was open about trying to get Elliott into a Cup car for a handful of races in 2015.



”I think you’ll probably see him run a few races next year,” Hendrick told the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in August. “Before he ever won a Nationwide race, I watched him test Jimmie’s car and Jeff’s car at Nashville, and Jimmie and Jeff both commented to me, ‘This kid is super smooth and super fast. He takes care of his equipment, and he doesn’t get in a jam.’ 



“I said before he ever ran a race, I would put him in a 600-mile race at Charlotte and think he’d finish in the top 15, top 10, because he’s so smart,” Hendrick added. “He just understands the car and takes care of it. I think he’s going to do a super job whenever the time comes. I think we’ll surely, probably the second half of next year, we’ll probably see him in some races.”



Dale Earnhardt Jr., the co-owner of JR Motorsports and owner of the No. 9 car, has repeatedly said that Hendrick has “a great plan” for Elliott.

Elliott broke out in 2014, winning three races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series en route to becoming the youngest NASCAR national series champion. He is set to drive the No. 9 car for a second straight season with JR Motorsports in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Elliott will have a new crew chief in Ernie Cope, with Greg Ives joining Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series ranks.

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