Atlanta Motor Speedway wants a little help from the fans. The track has asked race fans across the country to send in good-luck charms for Chase Elliott. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native is still chasing his first win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Charms of any size, shape or form are welcome.
Elliott, 22, is heading into his third full-time Cup season. He has come close. In 2017 he made the NASCAR Playoffs for the second year in a row. He then reached the Round of 8 and finished fifth in the standings. That made him the top finisher among the four Hendrick Motorsports cars. It was also five spots better than his 10th place in 2016.
Still, a trip to Victory Lane has not come yet. So the speedway will collect the charms and hand them to Elliott at the track on February 13.
The idea is borrowed from family history. Chase’s father, Bill Elliott, went winless in his first 115 Cup starts. In 1983, Charlotte Motor Speedway ran a similar charm drive for him. Ed Clark organized it while he was public relations director at Charlotte, and he later became president of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Three weeks after the charms arrived, Bill won for the first time, at Riverside International Raceway.
Fans can mail their charms to the speedway in Hampton, marked with the words Good Luck, Chase. They can also share photos and messages on social media with the hashtag #GoodLuckChase.
The timing lines up with the track’s big weekend. Racing runs February 23 to 25, 2018. February 24 brings a doubleheader. It pairs the Rinnai 250 XFINITY Series race with the Active Pest Control 200 Camping World Truck Series race. Then, on February 25, the Cup Series runs the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. That is where Elliott will try to turn the fans’ charms into a first win close to home.
