Chase Elliott 2017 Season Recap

In his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, Chase Elliott used consistency to make his way into the Playoffs once again, finishing fifth in the final standings. The Dawsonville, Georgia native earned 12 top fives, 21 top 10s and finished 2017 off with a 12th-place average finish. Take a look at the biggest moments during Elliott’s sophomore year.

Chase Elliott started 2017 off with a bang by winning the Coors Light Pole Award for the 59th annual Daytona 500, while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. flanked him on the coveted front row.

Protecting his No. 24 Daytona 500 pole-winning Chevrolet from any potential trouble in the Can-Am Duel was one option, but that’s not in Chase Elliott’s nature. Instead, he fought hard for victory in the first qualifying race. Although it didn’t count as an official first career Monster Energy Series win, he got a small taste of Victory Lane.

Wall-riding might work in skateboarding, but it doesn’t bode as well in a race car. Chase Elliott found that out the hard way after taking a wild ride during the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway. Elliott was turned by AJ Allmendinger on the backstretch with 20 laps remaining, sending the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet flying into (and onto) the outside barrier. The 30th-place result was the second of four straight finishes of 24th or worse from Richmond to Charlotte.

One of three postseason drivers to go winless in the 26-race regular season, Chase Elliott’s six top-fives and 14 top-10 finishes was enough to break him into the Monster Energy Series Playoffs, joining Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (left) and Kasey Kahne (right).

Chase Elliott dabbled in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2017, earning victory at Martinsville Speedway from the pole in October and finishing fifth at Atlanta in February.

We don’t have to tell you what they say about payback, but that’s exactly what Chase Elliott did to Denny Hamlin in the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix Raceway. Elliott made a pass on Hamlin for position coming off Turn 4 and gave him no room off the corner, sending the No. 11 into the outside wall. But the retaliation didn’t work out for either driver, as Hamlin blew a tire and went veering into the Turn 3 barrier, while Elliott went on to finish second to race winner Matt Kenseth, ending his championship hopes.

Chase Elliott has been a bridesmaid but never a bride over the course of his young Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. Elliott finished second on five occasions in 2017 (Michigan, Chicago, Dover, Charlotte and Phoenix), adding to his overall total of seven runner-up results.

As reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion William Byron moves into the No. 24 next season, Chase Elliott will return to the track in the new No. 9 Chevrolet for 2018 – the car number his father made famous by winning the 1988 title and setting a single-car qualifying record at Talladega Superspeedway at a speed of 212.809 mph in 1987. Chase honored the 30th anniversary of the elder Elliott’s quick time with these shoes at ‘Dega in the spring.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (right) retired from full-time racing as a 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner, which means someone new will earn the title in 2018. Chase Elliott’s father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott (middle), won the honor a record 16 times. To put that in perspective, a driver not named Elliott or Earnhardt has not won the award since Darrell Waltrip accomplished the feat in 1990. Based on the huge outpouring of fan support following the incident with Denny Hamlin at Martinsville, could Elliott be the next heir to the thrown? We’ll have to wait and see.