NASCAR DRIVER CHASE ELLIOTT TO SERVE AS USAC.25 SERIES HONORARY GRAND MARSHAL AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Speedway, IN (Jan. 30, 2019) – Chase Elliott, one of NASCAR’s rising stars in the Cup Series, has been named the Honorary Grand Marshal for the USAC.25 Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Feb. 7-10, 2019.
The 2018 season showcased Elliott’s drive for success at NASCAR’s premier level. He scored his first win at Watkins Glen International in August. The 23-year-old driver followed that with two additional wins on his way to earning his third consecutive bid in NASCAR’s playoffs. He posted 11 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s, including three runner-up finishes. He finished the season sixth in points and was voted most popular driver.
Following in the racing footsteps of his legendary dad Bill, the 1988 NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Elliott began his career in go-karts at the age of 8 and had won more than 60 races in multiple series by 15. In 2014, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native became the youngest champion in NASCAR Xfinity Series history at the age of 18. He also collected rookie of the year honors that same year. Two short years later, Elliott began his NASCAR Cup Series career on the pole position for the Daytona 500, becoming the youngest driver to do so for the historic event.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the kids and the families,” Elliott said. “I think that was probably one of the coolest things. We did something similar at Indy a couple of years ago during a media event. I just love seeing the fire from kids about racing and any time that you can be involved in that it’s a good feeling.”
Elliott complements the long and impressive list of USAC.25 Honorary Grand Marshals from 2018. Iconic and legendary names like Jeff Gordon (Daytona), Mario Andretti (Phoenix), Josef Newgarden (Texas), Arie Luyendyk (Indianapolis) and James Hinchcliffe (Pocono).
This marks the second consecutive time the USAC.25 series has kicked off its season at the world-renowned motor sports facility. A 1/20th mile-long tri-oval racetrack will be temporarily constructed on a paved section inside DIS.
With at least 45 USAC.25 clubs located all across the country, thousands of kids ages five and up, along with their families, participate in USAC-sanctioned quarter midget series events. Some notable NASCAR graduates of quarter midget racing include Gordon, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Alex Bowman.
Since 1956, United States Auto Club (USAC) has proven itself as being the most diversified motorsports sanctioning body in the world. It is the official sanctioning body of many of today’s largest racing series including its own suite of circle track series in Sprint, Midget and .25 Midget racing (quarter midgets), Pirelli World Challenge, Red Bull Global Rallycross, American Rally Association, International Snowmobile Racing, Robby Gordon Stadium Trucks, TORC Off Road Championship, Ultra 4 Racing, Formula Race Promotions and Karting. USAC has over 17,000 competitors racing at more than 1,000 sanctioned events globally.