Elliott on Talladega crowd: ‘They made me feel at home today’

TALLADEGA, Ala. – If there was any sign needed that Chase Elliott is the people’s choice in NASCAR, all one needed to do was take a listen to the crowd at Talladega Superspeedway. It was evident when the Hendrick Motorsports driver took the lead at any point in Sunday’s GEICO 500, but even more so when he took the lead for good with four laps to go. The win was his first of 2019 and the fourth of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. RELATED: Elliott wins at Talladega | Top moments in Chase's career “I’ve never had a crowd what just felt like in the palm of your hands is how it felt,” Chase Elliott said of the overwhelming crowd response. “You get excited. They get excited. You walk and they don’t say anything. You pump your arms up and they get pumped up. [ndmsvideo vid="6030878113001" iframe="true" play="false"] “That’s just something that I’ve never really experienced and that’s one of the coolest moments of my racing career.” Talladega is just about two-and-a-half hours from Dawsonville, Georgia -- the home of Chase and his NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer father Bill Elliott -- where the Dawsonville Pool Room siren was blaring loud for all to hear. But, this experience added more than a little something to the victory and made it stand out a little more than his first Cup victory at Watkins Glen last summer. “I honestly can’t describe it to you,” Elliott said. “After the race was over just kind of the way it ended, I was kind of like in la-la land down there when I was looking for the checkered flag. I really don’t know. Every time I stood up, the crowd stood up.  Every time I got fired up, they got fired up. That's something you can't ever take for granted. “Like I said, people might not always like you. It’s days like today, those moments that you’ll cherish and never forget. Certainly, I won’t. These races are too hard to win to not enjoy those moments. “You never know if you’re ever going to win another one. I’ll forever remember getting out of the car and experiencing that. There’s nobody to thank but the folks watching for that moment, making me feel special. It being close to home had a lot to do with that I think. They made me feel at home today, which was pretty cool.” The 2018 NMPA Most Popular Driver also joins his father as a Talladega race winner. Bill won twice at Talladega and set the qualifying record for fastest lap in 1987 at 212.809 mph. Chase’s dad was unable to attend today’s race because he was running a race at Road Atlanta – a race he also won. So it was like son, like father on this Sunday. “He won, too,” Chase Elliott said. “Good day.”