Elliott Focused On Fun In Xfinity Series Return

Chase Elliott speaks to the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

CONCORD, N.C. – Chase Elliott launched his stock-car career into the stratosphere by winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship a decade ago with JR Motorsports.

His presence at NASCAR’s second-highest level in recent years, however, has been quite limited.

Making a rare Xfinity Series appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Elliott will take the reins of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro Saturday afternoon in the BetMGM 300, as Hendrick Motorsports expands its presence in the division after dipping its toes back in the water last year.

It’ll mark the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s first Xfinity Series start since July 22, 2023, at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway, as well as the 84th of his career.

But more than just getting extra laps ahead of the Coca-Cola 600 – NASCAR’s longest race – on Sunday night, Elliott is eager to return to the division that made him a household name back in 2014.

Those two years, 2014 and 2015 … but particularly 2014, were really big for me. Just the way the timing all worked out and whatnot was really fortunate,” Elliott told Motorsports Hotspot Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “It was really last minute that we even raced full-time that year. There was a really good shot that we were just going to run five or six (races), and I would have been thrilled with that. But all the pieces of the puzzle fit together at the right time with NAPA and everything else.

“To your point, yes – it was an extremely important two-year stretch for my career. I kind of felt like that was my opportunity to either do something or not,” Elliott added. “Especially when it became a full-time season versus [the] five or six races that we had talked about doing, that really made it important to show what we were capable of.”

Elliott tipped that returning to the Xfinity Series at Charlotte, specifically, is something that he circled from the time that Hendrick Motorsports VP of Competition Chad Knaus came to him with the possibility of driving the No. 17 in select races this year.

“It was as simple as – Chad came to us over the winter last year, and said that they were going to likely be keeping the No. 17 Xfinity car going for another handful of races this year, and that they were probably going to start incorporating some more ovals into that,” Elliott recalled. “That was definitely appealing to me. They just kind of sent out to us [drivers] – hey, these are the races we’re thinking about … what do you guys have interest in?

“We were all pretty laid back about it. It wasn’t a huge thing, so this was just the way it worked out,” he continued. “Charlotte (Motor Speedway) fit my schedule and it fit their schedule. I wanted to get some more laps here, and I felt like it would be a good weekend to do that. I’m excited about it.”

Elliott won five races with JR Motorsports from 2014-’16, but hasn’t reached victory lane in the Xfinity Series since the Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway season opener eight years ago.

Though he’s always on the hunt for a trophy, Elliott noted that there’s one overarching reason he made the decision to run double-duty at Charlotte this weekend – the same weekend that his Hendrick teammate, Kyle Larson, aims to race both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in one day Sunday.

“We’re here to have fun,” he said with a coy smile. “We’ll enjoy ourselves and see how it all shakes out.”

Elliott will chase his sixth career Xfinity Series win and first at Charlotte during Saturday’s BetMGM 300, with broadcast coverage slated for 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.