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Why NASCAR's latest second-generation champion is just getting started

Chase Elliott's late charge to the 2020 NASCAR Cup title defied predictions that it would be a Kevin Harvick versus Denny Hamlin showdown. While the two veterans are showing no signs of slowing down, Elliott's triumph was a window into NASCAR's future

Perhaps unreasonably, immediate pressure for success was placed upon young Chase Elliott's shoulders the very first time the son of 1988 NASCAR Cup champion Bill strapped himself into a full-time Cup ride with Hendrick Motorsports in 2016.

With 'Awesome Bill from Dawsonville' being voted the most popular driver in the Cup Series a record 16 times, picking up 44 wins across a career that spanned nearly four decades, the expectation was that the next generation of Elliott would pick up where his father left off and immediately start producing strong results.

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