It’s not often that you hear Chase Elliott admit to something making him emotional.
But the usually stoic – at least in public – Hendrick Motorsports driver did just that Sunday (April 14) after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the fact that he had just snapped a 42-race winless streak.
Instead, it had to with the sponsor on his No. 9 Chevrolet – Hooters – and the last driver to win with it as a primary sponsor in the Cup Series: Alan Kulwicki.
“Hooters has been a partner of ours for a number of years now,” Elliott said on the fronstretch during his TV interview. “It’s been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki. Driving this car to a victory and do a Polish victory lap, just really crazy how things came full circle there in that moment.
“It was pretty emotional for me.
“He beat dad (Bill Elliott) back in the day. Here we are sharing his sponsor and having an opportunity to win today.”
Let’s put this in perspective.
The last time Hooters went to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series was on June 14, 1992, when Kulwicki took his No. 7 Ford to victory lane at Pocono Raceway, defeating Mark Martin and Bill Elliott.
At the time, Harrison Ford’s Patriot Games was the No. 1 movie in America and Mariah Carey’s “I’ll Be There” topped the Billboard Hot 100 (“Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot was No. 2).
Five months later, Kulwicki claimed the Cup Series championship, besting Elliott by just 10 points.
Twenty-five years passed.
In 2017, having sponsored drivers like Brett Bodine, Rick Mast, Elton Sawyer, Loy Allen Jr. (and Greg Biffle for one race in a tribute to Kulwicki), Hooters finally tied its hopes to Chase Elliott, who was in his second full-time Cup season and winless.
For seven years Elliott remained winless … with Hooters on his car.
Before Sunday, Elliott had Hooters as his primary sponsor in 21 races, finishing second three times.
When the checkered flag waved, I didn’t even think about associating the history of Kulwicki and Bill Elliott to the moment. I just thought it was cool that a long-time sponsor in the sport…
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