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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If Chase Elliott has his way, the Dawsonville Pool Room will be making plenty of noise in 2017.
The Dawsonville, Georgia, establishment in Elliott's hometown is known for its ear-splitting howl emitted from a siren on the roof. The practice is the same as when his dad, NASCAR Hall of Famer and 1988 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, Bill Elliott won races. The siren notably went off for Chase's back-to-back NASCAR XFINITY Series wins in 2014 -- his first two at that level.
"It would be incredible," Elliott told NASCAR.com of scoring his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup win. "I hope the siren still works there at Dawsonville -- that thing hasn't gone off in a long time. Hopefully, we can test it out before too long."
MORE: Elliott's storied history with Pool Room
If the siren does ring, Elliott may be close enough to hear it. An avid flyer with a pilot's license -- Elliott says if he wasn't a driver he'd be a pilot -- the 21-year-old flies back and forth from the Charlotte area to his home in Georgia during the season. Elliott says "it's good to do your own thing in some ways."
"Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) has been supportive and our whole group has," Elliott said of his flying in and out. "As long as you’re willing to put in the work to make it work, I'm going to try and make it work."
There were a couple of times last year when it looked like Elliott would drive into Victory Lane in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie campaign and prompt the siren to go off, but that was not the case.
Still, the 2016 Sunoco Rookie of the Year in the sport's top series notched 10 top fives, 17 top 10s, 358 laps led and two runner-up finishes at Michigan International Speedway, in addition to qualifying for the playoffs -- the first rookie along with Chris Buescher to do so since Denny Hamlin in 2006.
Having continuity coming into the 2017 season is something not lost on Elliott. In his two years in the XFINITY ranks, he had a different crew chief each season. Gustafson returns to lead Elliott and the No. 24 team for his sophomore season at the top level.
"One thing I'm excited about, which I haven't had in the last few years, is having the same crew chief two years in a row. I haven't had that. I really enjoyed working with Alan last year. I think he's one of the best.
"Everyone says that about their crew chiefs, but I'm pretty confident saying that. He does a great job and is underrated in what he does and how hard he works in trying to make a race team go."