Bill Elliott to race one more time

Bill Elliott in 2006

Not long after news broke that NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott would be returning to NASCAR stock car racing in three weeks at Road America, he confirmed to Kickin’ the Tires that he definitely has a few butterflies.

“You know I never officially retired, so I think this will be my official retirement plan here to go to Road America," Elliott said, as he walked through the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage sporting a No. 9 NAPA hat and heading to meet with his son, Chase Elliott, at the hauler after qualifying. “We started talking about this a few weeks ago and I told Chase, ‘You ought to run it.’ And he said, ‘No, you ought to run it.’ So, Mike Beam (president, GMS Racing) said, ‘No, you (Bill) ought to run it.’ So, I said, ‘Well, let ’s figure this out.’ I don’t know what I am going to have as a goal but I want to embrace it and have a good time with it and that is what I am going to try to do."

It’s been since 2012 that Bill Elliott drove in any of NASCAR’s top series and in his last race, he crashed and finished 37th. But that isn’t what’s weighing on the 1988 champion’s mind. He wants to know the differences in how the cars drive now versus when he was at his peak in the sport. With 44 wins at the sports highest level, including two Daytona 500 wins, a Brickyard 400 win and three Southern 500 wins he doesn’t have anything to prove. This is all about fun and it isn’t the first time he will have been in a car. In fact, he has a race coming up next week and he has been running a few vintage car races.

“This is going to be a big step," Elliott said. “I have been playing around doing some different things. I am going to run a Tran Am race next week … but I am just feeling around, trying to have a good time and see what’s going on and, you know, seeing how racing has changed. I would really like to drive one of these (Cup) cars to see how much different it is compared to when I stopped a few years ago.

“It’s a great opportunity. You know, Mike and the guys over there at GMS said, ‘Hey, come do it’ and I said, ‘Well, you may have to twist my arm a little bit but I’ll try it.’ You know, I don’t have any expectations but just to go have a good time."

He joked that after watching the Xfinity race at Watkins Glen that he texted Beam that maybe he should rethink his decision and sign A.J. Allmendinger, who finished second, to run the car at Road America. He also added that he is hopeful that he won’t have to run in the rain like the drivers did Saturday.

“A little bit, yep, absolutely," Elliott said, when asked if he was nervous about getting back behind the wheel. “Hey, I have been out of these things for a while and I will tell you what, all those guys that run that series are really good, they are really, really good. You watch those guys and they put on a hell of a show. You know watching all of the Xfinity regulars that ran here today, they do an awesome job."

After qualifying Chase Elliott said he was happy that his dad was looking to have some fun while he doesn’t have anything planned, the idea of running the race alongside his legendary dad was appealing.

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it to be honest with you," said Chase Elliott. “I mean the tough thing is you want to be able to go and put a real solid effort together and you just hate to throw a car and a team together to go do it. So, I am not sure, you never know, there are still a few weeks out but no plans right now."

Chase did say that he planned on being up in Wisconsin to watch his dad on the track but didn’t have any advice for him behind the wheel.

Bill, on the other hand, joked that he may decide to call it quits early and turn the car over Chase after making a few laps.

“That’d be cool," to run against one another, Bill Elliott said. “But, hey, we might tag-team the same car. How about that? I’ll run the first five laps and he can finish up." Kickin’ the Tires