Will the 2014 champ’s momentum continue into 2015?
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Team: JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet
Rank in final 2014 standings: First
Wins: Three (Texas in April; Darlington in April; Chicago in July)
Strides: Won a pole (or two)? Check. Won a race (or three)? Check. Sunoco Rookie of the Year? Check. Series champion? Absolutely.
Elliott, 19, was the surprise story of the year for the Nationwide (now XFINITY) Series, becoming the first driver to win the championship in his rookie season. The son of 1988 premier series champion Bill Elliott, the youngster drove more like an experienced veteran than a fresh-faced kid with no prior starts in the series.
“There were a lot of points in the season when people said ‘he’s a rookie, he’s going to make a mistake here or there’ and he didn’t,” teammate Regan Smith said. “He drove like a veteran and it was great for him and great for JR Motorsports to see that.”
As surprising as his first career win was at Texas, perhaps more impressive was following up that victory just a week later at Darlington, one of the series’ most difficult tracks, with a second consecutive win.
In addition to his three victories, Elliott ended the season with 16 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes. His average finishing position of 8.0 was No. 1 among those running full-time in the series.
Elliott was always quick to point to the efforts of others.
“I feel like all these people along the way have made me look a heck of a lot better than I really am,” he said. “It’s been an honor to work with these guys … not just this year, but all along the way. It’s been fun.”
Setbacks: Elliott didn’t always shine — his best finish on the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega was 15th. But for the most part, he ran with and often outran Sprint Cup drivers making the occasional stop in the series.
Quoteworthy: “He’s so much better than I ever through about being.” — Bill Elliott
What’s next: With JRM’s ties to Hendrick Motorsports, the road to a ride at the Sprint Cup level seemed to clear a bit with the recent announcement of Jeff Gordon‘s pending retirement. Before that either does or doesn’t take place however, Elliott will spend another year in the XFINITY Series.
Greg Ives, who served as crew chief, has moved up to Sprint Cup to be paired with Dale Earnhardt Jr., a co-owner of JRM. Veteran crew chief Ernie Cope will now be paired with Elliott.
“Winning more races and not letting the same people beat you every week … is the biggest thing,” Elliott said of the ’15 season. “Keeping it about as simple as possible. … I see things I can improve on personally and stepping up and not letting people out‑drive you every week because I feel like that’s happened a lot this year.
“I’d like to minimize those weekends, and I feel like we have the cars, the teams, the motors, the group of people to go and contend with the best. We’ve just got to put it all together … not talk about it anymore and go do it.”