As Gordon’s career winds down, Chase Elliott steps on the gas

Jeff Gordon shot down the idea of doing something to commemorate his No. 24 car next season. He didn’t feel NASCAR should keep it off the track for a year or more as a gesture to his stellar racing career.

Why?

“I like to see the 24 out there,” Gordon said. “And I’m just such a fan of Chase’s that I think that probably has a lot do with it.”

Gordon was referring to Chase Elliott, the heir apparent to Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports ride next season. And the NASCAR world is surely going to be focused on Elliott during Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway as the 19-year-old makes his Sprint Cup debut in the No. 25 Chevrolet.

Elliott is among several young, promising drivers in the sport who have already stacked up plenty of credentials. The son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott is the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and was named that series’ rookie of the year last year.

“This is definitely special,” said Elliott, who qualified 27th and is scheduled to run five Cup races this season. “It’s definitely exciting. But at the same time, you don’t want to forget you are still racing. You want to put together 500 solid laps on Sunday.”

Elliott understands he faces an uphill battle in his first Cup race, particularly if he plans to post a solid finish. Only three drivers have finished in the top 10 in their debut since 1990, with Carl Edwards being the last at Michigan in 2004.

But maybe simply finishing better than his dad will be enough for Elliott. Bill Elliott had a 33rd-place run in his Cup debut at Rockingham in 1976.

“Obviously, we want to go as fast as we can for as long as possible,” Chase Elliott said. “We want to do the best we can and make the most of these races and try to just gain as much knowledge as possible.”

Regardless of how his debut goes, there’s no question people have full confidence in Elliott replacing a legendary driver.

“He has been good in several types of cars driving several styles, different horsepower-to-weight ratios, different tires and track surfaces,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., a fellow Hendrick driver. “He has been an observer of the sport for a really long time as a kid going to these races so I think he understands a lot about the sport.

“He’s just a good little driver. He is going to be a handful. He is going to be up there running with us and racing for positions, and I expect him to be a great teammate and a lot of fun to work with.”

Gordon loves his potential as well. Gordon, however, chuckled about the idea of Elliott making his debut at a driver’s track such as Martinsville, especially in sub-par racing conditions. Qualifying was delayed a couple hours Friday because of rain, but Sunday’s forecast calls for 55 degrees and sunshine.

“I kind of love it because he’s being challenged in a big way, and I think he’s very capable of living up to that,” Gordon said. “With a Hendrick car, his talents and our setups, I have all the faith in the world that under normal circumstances that he’d shine this weekend. But it’s certainly going to be a steep learning curve.”

That might be true, but it’s not smart to bet against the youngster at this point. Nothing, it seems, has slowed him down so far in his racing career. Sunday is really just the beginning.

“Going to the racetrack and watching my dad running these races for a number of years, it’s very odd to be showing up here and not be coming to watch him,” Elliott said. “So, this is definitely a weird-feeling weekend, more than anything else, right now.

“But this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 6:33 PM with the headline "As Gordon’s career winds down, Chase Elliott steps on the gas."