DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Elliott, the newly christened Coors Light “21 Means 21” Pole Award Winner for Sunday’s Daytona 500, says his parents never pushed him toward a career in NASCAR. If they had their way, perhaps the 20-year-old would be taking up a much quieter pursuit.
“Mom wanted me to go play golf. She said golf would be a good choice,” Elliott said during Tuesday’s NASCAR Media Day rotations at Daytona International Speedway.
Instead of driving the fairways, Elliott has followed the driving path of his NASCAR Hall of Famer father, Bill Elliott, who started first in four Daytona 500s. Though his father has provided help as his son has risen through the NASCAR ranks, the younger Elliott said he respected that his parents never nudged him toward stock-car racing.
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“Neither one of them have ever forced me to race. It was never that way,” Chase Elliott said. “It was always my decision. They always let me make that call. They were always just very respectful. They weren’t that soccer mom and dad out there that sometimes can be tough when you have somebody pushing you to do something. It was just never that way.
“If I ever went home and told my dad I didn’t want to race, there wouldn’t be any hard feelings, we would just do something else and have fun with it. It was never like that.”
Elliott, who said he played peewee soccer at age 5, might be a natural behind the wheel. Golf, not so much.
“Terrible,” Elliott said of his game. “Terrible at golf.”