What Chase Elliott said about racing at Hickory ahead of Cars Tour showdown

Chase Elliott spoke about racing at Hickory Motor Speedway ahead of the CARS Tour race. He has joined the Late Model Stock Tour Series for the event Ross and Witmer 255 at Hickory.

The American Stock car racer at Hendrick Motorsports, the #9, competes mainly in the Cup Series and drives the #17 for HMS in the Xfinity Series on a part-time schedule. The son of the former Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, the 29-year-old has carved a legacy of his own by becoming part of the short list of father-son duos to win the Cup Series championship.

Elliott became the youngest driver to win a Nationwide championship series in NASCAR history in 2014. Elliott began his NASCAR Cup Series career in 2015, taking over Jeff Gordon’s iconic #24, and won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2020. Over his career, he has amassed 19 career Cup series wins in 333 races.

In an interview with Frontstretch, Chase Elliott said that his decision to race in the upcoming Thursday race at Hickory came because it was on a weekday. He said:

"Just on a Thursday night, on a week where it's close, you know, that's really about it. There's not really a lot of weekday races in the super late model world and the freight racing team that, you know, I drive for on that side of things, they have a lot going on too."

He added,

"It's not just about me, so they have other guys that race throughout the year and, you know, I kind of slot in where my schedule allows and where it makes sense and that race just so happens to have been a place that made sense for us last year too. The subject of Hickory, it's been a long time since NASCAR ran there, but it's still very renowned in the late model asphalt short track racing world."

Chase Elliott began the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with a win in the exhibition Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, but he remains winless in the Cup Series point-paying races through the first thirteen events of the season. He stands fourth in the overall point standings with three top-five and six top-ten finishes, with no worse than 20th in the season.

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Will Chase Elliott follow teammate Kyle Larson in running the ‘Double’?

Chase Elliott was recently asked if he would consider following his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, in attempting "The Double"—racing both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Elliott responded that he has very little interest in taking on the challenge, especially after hearing about Larson’s crash during Indy 500 practice.

He said vis ATYL Media on X:

"A little, but not much. You know, as they said earlier, they unfortunately had another crash today, which, you know, sucks, and I hope they can fix it. I don't really know how those cars work."

He admitted he doesn’t know much about IndyCars and prefers to simply watch and support from the sidelines, wishing Larson and his team the best as they try to recover.

Chase Elliott’s focus remains firmly on his NASCAR Cup Series campaign, where he has been one of the most consistent drivers this season.