Awesome Bill from Dawsonville also made a point of saying he never officially retired, so …
Though he certainly got a thrill out of playing spotter for son Chase’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory, Bill Elliott still hasn’t been able to shake the racing bug. Though it’s been a few years since he’s competed in a NASCAR national series event of any kind, he’ll soon be hopping behind the wheel of a NASCAR XFINITY Series car for GMS Racing at Road America.
If you still haven’t seen him race in person or want to make sure you do it again, you need to get to Wisconsin later this month, because the Hall of Famer says this is it. Most likely, anyway.
“I would say in the [NASCAR] national series, this will be my last race,” Elliott said to NASCAR SiriusXM Radio (via Autosport), before adding, “I’m not saying I wouldn’t do something else.
“I’ve been enjoying the vintage car races the last couple of months. I’m going to run a Trans-Am car at Mid-Ohio next weekend just to tinker around with.”
Elliott has driven in the XFINITY Series more often than you might think, making 43 starts over 22 years between 1983 and 2005 (though he only ran in 12 different seasons over that time). His lone win came at Watkins Glen way back in 1993.
Still, he admitted to being curious about today’s drivers and cars, which ultimately led him to want to jump back in for one more try.
"I was watching the XFINITY race [at Watkins Glen last weekend] and man, those guys are good. I just would like to see how are these cars are today, how are things going along and just kind of see what it’s all about."
He’ll have pretty decent equipment to do it, as the GMS Racing No. 23 Chevrolet is currently 11th in owners points. It was originally intended to be the full-time ride for Spencer Gallagher, but once he ran afoul of NASCAR’s substance abuse policy, it’s been driven by a rotating series of special guests since then.
One of them, AJ Allmendinger, drove the car to a second-place finish at Watkins Glen. If Elliott can pull off something similar in what could potentially be his final NASCAR race, it might not thrill fans quite as much as Chase’s big win, but it would certainly put smiles on a lot of faces just the same.