DARLINGTON, S.C. – Next season, the No. 9 car will be a brand-new addition to the Hendrick Motorsports lineup in the NASCAR Cup Series.
But for the driver who will pilot that car, the number is far from new.
“That is a number I’ve been tied to for a long time,” Chase Elliott said. “When you are a kid and you are going to play soccer for the first time and you pick No. 9, I feel like from there you are always going to have that connection with it.”
It’s the number Elliott drove in his very earliest days of racing, from go-karts to late models to eventually the 2014 NASCAR XFINITY Series title.
And, memorably, it’s the number that his NASCAR Hall of Famer father Bill Elliott drove to 38 Cup-level wins and the 1988 series championship.
“Really, my passion and love for that number came from the Evernham days with my dad and I was just old enough at that point to where I kind of started to understand and saw him racing,” Chase Elliott explained.
It was something that Elliott acknowledged he would lightheartedly joke about with Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, occasionally mentioning that the No. 9 car would look awfully good back on the track.
“Mr. Hendrick, I guess, kind of had that in the back of his mind and was thinking about it,” he said. “Somewhere along the line he has been really listening to that. I appreciated it, for sure.”
And when the opportunity arose with all of the change approaching in 2018, the driver didn’t hesitate.
“It was really a no-brainer for me,” Elliott said. “And from everything I’ve seen, everybody is pretty fired up as much as I am. I think the response as I have seen is it just fits. That is kind of the way I have seen it in my mind, too. It’s something that fits me. It fits the history of my family, sure, but it also fits the history of what I’ve always run and where I came from.”
Now, he has the chance to drive the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro starting with next year’s Daytona 500.
But excitement aside, the driver still wants to leave a lasting impact in his current No. 24 ride – a number he noted “has become home for me.”
His sights remain set on closing out the 2017 campaign in as strong a fashion as possible, and he knows he has two more races to ensure his spot in the playoffs.
“I have an opportunity to add on to the success Jeff (Gordon) has had in this car, and I would like to do that before I don’t have that opportunity anymore,” he said.
But once this season comes to a close, Elliott might become the competitor most anxious for the 2018 Daytona 500 to hurry up and arrive.
“The No. 9 – I’m biased for sure – but it’s too good of a number to not be running currently,” he smiled. “It is just a good-looking number if you ask me. So, I’m excited.”