Chase Elliott holds an interesting place in the world of NASCAR. While on the one hand, he is the biggest name and the most popular driver in the sport, on the other hand, he is also very reserved, and wants to be known as a racecar driver only. This is something that Denny Hamlin also recently commented on. In conversation with Kevin Harvick, the 23XI Racing co-owner and the #11 driver spoke about the duality of Chase Elliott’s desires and the expectations on him as the sport’s biggest superstar.
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Harvick asked Hamlin to pick one driver who he thinks should open up more. Harvick himself named his pick and said, “I would pick Chase Elliott,” which Hamlin also seconded.
“Chase Elliott is a very important person in our sport. I think he knows it. But I don’t think he understands how big his influence is on our sport. I think when I hear him speak on Dale Jr.’s podcast about, ‘Listen, I just want to be the best racecar driver I can be,'” Hamlin described.
“That is understandable, and that is someone who is focused on their career and doing the best they can for their team.”
Denny Hamlin on the obligations to grow NASCAR
As Denny Hamlin spoke about Chase Elliott’sdesire to be the best racecar driver he can be, Kevin Harvick mentioned how there is ‘the show’ element to the whole thing, “a sense of entertainment” that has to go with it. Hamlin agreed.
In fact, to Hamlin, there’s another layer to it, which he described as, “There’s somewhat of an obligation to grow the sport. Now, the sport has to do that on its own. Promoting it. That’s a whole another subject. But the drivers themselves have to be accessible to get to understand personalities because we love watching a sport because of the superstars. They can do things that we cannot do.”
Hamlin supported his claim with the example of why he loves watching the NBA. “They can do athletic things I can never dream of. That’s what interests me,” he explained.
In the end, he concluded that NASCAR wants to show the fans how great Chase Elliott is at his craft, in his pursuit of becoming the best racecar driver he can be. But along with that, they’d also want to show “a little bit of inside” of what makes Elliott great so the fans can see it for themselves and understand it.
