Casey Elliott Survives

Casey Elliott (born February 13, 1974) is an American former stock car racing driver and current broadcaster for NASCAR on FOX. The nephew of 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott and the cousin of 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott as well as the son of Bill's former crew chief Ernie Elliott and father of 2019 and 2021 Cup Series champion Chad Elliott (b. 1996). He competed full time in the Winston Cup Series between 1995 and 2022. He is a four time Cup champion as well as the 1994 Busch Series champion.
After some wins in the Slim Jim all Pro Series, he competed in the NASCAR Busch Series (now known as the Xfinity Series) full time for Bill Elliott Racing driving the 94 car. In 1993 he already had started two races, with his best finish being 20th at Michigan.
The 1994 season at first seemed at stake as in December 1993 there came up rumors over Casey having cancer. His season was in jeopardy before it even began, however, the doctor managed to remove what had been starting to develop into a tumor in January already.
The season began tragic, as in Speedweeks both Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr lost their lives. Bill decided to have his nephew run a paint scheme honoring them in the Goody's 300. After starting from his first career pole, he would finish in ninth. At Rockingham he'd finish fourth , confirming his form, as well as eleventh in Richmond. In Atlanta (in his home state of Georgia), after his second pole, him and Harry Gant were battling it out for the victory. Sadly, with nine laps to go, Casey would blow a motor and finish 30th. Casey was devastated but likewise confident. At Martinsville he'd finish second to championship leader Terry Labonte, and again in Darlington to Mark Martin. At Hickory, he found himself in a thrilling five man battle for the victory between himself, Ricky Craven, Randy LaJoie, David Green and another rookie, Johnny Benson. He finish fourth, which would also mean he take the points lead since Labonte did not partake this weekend to instead race in the Cup Series (Buschwhacking was different from what it would be in the 2000's and early 2010's at that time, since Cup and Busch most of the times didn't race on the same weekend). He would hold the points lead for 20 weeks in a row.
In Bristol he only finished 14th, but defended the points lead. In Rougemont he also missed out on the Top 10 finishing twelth, which would still mean the points lead. Overall, he was showing his genius, playing it safe for points. In Loudon he showcased this also, finishing seventh.
It wasn't until Nazareth that Casey took the chance. When leaders Ricky Craven and Elton Sawyer made their final pit stops, Casey, who had done his one a couple laps after Ricky, Elton and Mike Wallace had done their penulatime ones, decided to stay out. It was a huge gamble, but as he told in the interview afterwards, he calculated the fuel properly. In the end, he coasted over the line in his first, scoring his first Busch Series win in just his 13th race.
However, while having extended the lead, at that point Bill Elliott Racing would face reliability issues. At Charlotte Motor Speedway, the 94 car would blow an engine, and in Talladega Casey would be caught up into a multi car crash. He was still leading narrowley with two races to go, but in the penultimate race in Martinsville he'd below a motor, finishing in 21st while David Green would finish 2nd and take the points lead by 61 points.
Going into the finale in Rockingham, Casey was 61 points back and his title fight seemed to be over. However, while Green took the pole and Casey only started from 7th, he would manage to lead the most laps in win after a tense battle with Mark Martin. Green meanwhile only finished 13th, failing to lead a lap. The two would tie on points, and due to Green having only one win compared to Elliott's two, Casey Elliott would win the title. At the age of 20, he was the youngest Busch Series champion, and would maintain that record until Brian Vickers in 2003, and then, in 2014, a member of the Elliott family, Chase, would break it again.
Over the whole season, Elliott would score two wins, eight Top 5's and twelve Top 10's, with an average finish of 11.8.
He also made his Cup Series debut at the Hooters 500, finishing in 22nd.
Beyond that, he got engaged with his Charlotte born girlfriend Kalya Reynolds (b. 1975).
== 1995 ==
In 1995 it was planned that Casey should run in the Busch Series again, but instead, thanks to his dominant 1994 season, Bill decided to put up his nephew in the Cup Series, after he had announced he would part ways with Junior Johnson & Associates. Casey was to drive the 94 car with the same red and blue paint scheme as in the Busch Series, Bill would run the 09 car sponsored by McDonald's.
Casey would score five Top 10's in his rookie season. His only Top 5 came at the season finale at Atlanta, finishing 2nd to Dale Earnhardt after having led 28 laps. He had an average finish of 23.7 and finished the standings in 24th, which was enough for the Rookies Of The Year. He too raced in select Busch and Truck series races.
The season began big off tracks when a week before Speedweeks, him and Kalya would get married.
== 1996 ==
For 1996, Elliott signed a three year contract with Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the 20 car. This was seen as an absurd move, considering his rookie season had been mediocre at best. But Joe Gibbs appearantly saw something no one else did.
Before the season began, Casey and Kayla's son Chad was born.
The Daytona 500 ended for Elliott with a 3rd place finish behind Dale Jarett and Dale Earnhardt. The next two races too ended in the Top 5. He would maintain the points lead from week 2 to seasons' end and won the title by five points over Terry Labonte in spite of not winning a single race. He finished 2nd seven times overall. With 15 Top 5's and 22 Top 10's and an average finish of 8.1 he became the youngest NASCAR champion ever at the age of 22, breaking Bill Rexford's record that had stood for 46 years. He also was the first champion for JGR and would remain the only winless champion in one of NASCAR's Top 3 divisions until Austin Dillon did the same in the Nationwide Series in 2013.
== 1997 ==
Elliott won the season opener, the Daytona 500, making that his first Cup series win.