'Race For The Championship' Star Chase Elliott Is Carrying On Family Legacy — Who Is His Dad?

Chase Elliott is one of the many drivers featured on USA Network’s new series “Race For The Championship,” which offers an inside look into the athletes' lives and at the people who make these drivers competitive on the track. For Chase, that means getting some insight into how his father, NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, impacts his career. 

For those unfamiliar, Chase comes from racing royalty. His father, Bill, enjoyed a long and impressive career in professional racing that spanned from 1976 to 2012. Not long after his retirement behind the wheel, he pivoted toward making sure his son carries on the family name in NASCAR. 

Chase has some massive shoes to fill and he’s already on track to do so. His 2020 NASCAR Cup Series win puts him in line with his dad, who took home the premiere championship in 1988. However, his most lucrative season in a 37-year career was without a doubt 1985, when he became the first driver to win a $1 million bonus for winning the three marquee events of the then-Winston Cup Series season. He took first at Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Darlington Raceway, and the Daytona 500.

Bill’s career includes 44 wins, ranking him the 16th of all time, and 55 poles, ranking him eighth of all time. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

However, his winning record is not what those closest to him would first highlight about “Million Dollar Bill.” He has a reputation within the sport as being one of the most affable and friendly people to ever grace the track. According to his website, he won the NMPA’s “Most Popular Driver” Award a record 16 times, ultimately retiring his name from contention in 2003. As shown by the way he stepped aside to support his son’s career, Bill is less interested in his own success as he is in his family and the general sport of racing. 

Speaking in a 2015 video for Ford, his preferred car brand, he explained the decision to retire but stay close to racing. 

“Whenever you’re young, you think you can race forever but then the older you get the more you realize that, yeah there’s a time to lay your swords down and work toward what the next part of your life is,” he said. 

Now fans can get an inside look at just how Bill spends his days now supporting his son, Chase, in the 2022 season on “Race For The Championship” every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network.

Meanwhile, you can catch more NASCAR content on Peacock right now.