Growing up in Gaylord, Michigan in the late 80s and early 90s, Dave Elenz was the odd-man out in his family when it came to NASCAR fandom.
He lived roughly three hours north from Michigan International Speedway, a track where Bill Elliott won seven NASCAR Cup Series races from 1984-1989, including four in a row.
“My family was all Bill Elliott because Melling Tools is right from down there (in Jackson, Michigan), my cousin actually worked in Melling,” Elenz told Frontstretch last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Elliott wasn’t Elenz’ man.
In the days where he remembers frequently falling asleep in the grandstands during the long 400-mile Michigan races, he threw his hat into the ring of “The King,” Richard Petty.
“Wasn’t the best move in 1989,” Elenz said, noting Petty was far removed from his glory days. “He could be a little slow when I started following him.”
Flash forward three decades. Elenz now stands in the hauler of the No. 43 Chevrolet
The 41-year-old is 21 races – after being ejected from Pocono Raceway for an inspection failure – into his tenure as crew chief of The King’s No. 43 Chevrolet, now driven by Erik Jones for Petty GMS Motorsports.
“I don’t know that it really led to my choice,” Elenz says of whether his past fandom influenced his career choices. “Working with Erik, Chevrolet’s happy with this group. That’s all stuff that excited me. It’s just kind of neat that it’s with Richard.”
No, if there was one over-riding puzzle piece that resulted in the decision by Elenz to leave JR Motorsports after seven years and two titles there as a crew chief, it was the car he would be working with in 2022.
“I had been waiting on the Next Gen,” Elenz said. “Just because I was so far off on the other car, like the 550 package and all that stuff, I wasn’t going to be usable on the car side to that.
“Waiting on the Next Gen car to come opens up a place like Petty GMS, because they have all the same components,” Elenz said. “We don’t have to start an engineering department and design department and start machining components for two years before we get anything that could compete. We can go buy it … So that for sure was why I wanted to come right now.”
Over the years Elenz had “said ‘no’ to people” about other chances to be a Cup crew chief as he waited for the right opportunity.
He added that it wasn’t difficult for him to turn the offers down.
“(JR…
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