AVONDALE, Ariz. — The high-five between Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott was more than the split-second touch of driving gloves.
Not because there were particularly memorable words spoken in that moment — Elliott said the two drivers were “just screaming” through the windows of their Chevrolet cars — as he headed for his victory donuts and Johnson made his final lap around the track as a full-time NASCAR racer. But the gesture was important because it symbolized a generational transition of greatness.
Elliott had just won his first championship in the sport’s top series and Johnson had just closed a career in which he won seven of those titles. They were driving in opposite directions and stopped when their cars passed each other on the track at Phoenix Raceway Sunday night, arms outstretched for a brief congratulations before the evening of celebration.
Johnson, 45, wasn’t holding a torch to hand to his 24-year-old Hendrick Motorsports teammate, but it was easy to imagine he was.
“I’m so happy for that guy,” Johnson said. “Great friend, great family.”
Johnson recalled going snowboarding in Colorado with Elliott’s father, NASCAR Hall of Fame member and 1988 champion Bill Elliott, along with a young Chase Elliott.
“Chase was maybe eight years old, something like that, on skis, super quiet, wouldn’t say much,” Johnson said. “To watch him grow up and to be around him and to give him some advice from time to time has really been meaningful for me.”
The quiet eight-year-old grew into an ambitious teenager, who never witnessed his father make 11-win tears like he did in the 80s, but who still wanted to emulate those moments from the stories and photos. Chase Elliott instead grew up watching drivers like Tony Stewart and Johnson win an insane number of races and championships. Johnson won five titles in a row between 2006 and 2010, then added two more to his legacy in 2013 and 2016.
“To join them on the champion list, that’s why it’s unreal,” Elliott said. “Because that stuff was larger than life to me and I just can’t wrap my head around, like fathom, the fact that I’m on the same list as some of them.”
Elliott was hardly winning races running late models at the start of his driving career, but he showed promise and landed a deal with Hendrick Motorsports after word of Elliott’s potential got around to HMS owner Rick Hendrick.
“I think it was a combination of skill, pedigree and just a sharp young man,” Hendrick said.
In 2014, NAPA Autoparts signed a sponsorship deal that allowed Elliott to run a full Xfinity season. He won the series championship that year, but before the deal came together, he said he considered an alternative path and applied to college at the University of North Georgia. (Yes, he said, he got in.)
“I’ve never felt the pressure or the need to (become a driver) as far as my dad goes,” Elliott said. “He’s given me the opportunity to be my own person and to grow and to build and learn, sometimes learn the hard way.”
But maybe there’s something to be said about destiny or fate.
“Just so many stars aligned,” Elliott said.
