CONCORD, N.C. — Chase Elliott didn’t get to know his cousin Casey. But he heard the stories of his relative, who raced before he died of cancer in 1996 at age 21.
Chase will honor the life of his cousin by having a paint scheme Casey raced in 1993 as his throwback paint scheme for the Sept. 2 Southern 500 (airs on NBCSN).
Chase Elliott unveiled the yellow NAPA car with his dad Bill and uncle Ernie on Tuesday night.
“Growing up around Casey, he was just such a good kid,” Bill Elliott said. “It’s hard to talk about. He had a great outlook on life. … Even through his tough times, as he went on with the stuff he fought, he still had a great outlook. He was just the kind of kid everybody wanted to look up to.”
Said Chase: “A lot of the people that worked either at uncle Ernie’s engine shop or dad’s race shop over the years had been there for a long time. They either grew up with dad and uncle Ernie or was there when Casey was growing up and coming along, too.
“I got to chance to get to know a lot of those guys. They shared a lot of stories with me. They told me what kind of a person he was. That to me is where I grew my appreciation. Beyond that, I feel like what people leave behind often tells the true story as to what kind of person they were. How much everyone missed him and talked about him years and years after he hasn’t been around says a lot, too.”
Casey Elliott ran in the Slim Jim All-Pro Series full-time and ran two races in what is now the Xfinity Series in 1993. His cancer was discovered after that season.
He died in Jan. 14, 1996, less than two months after Chase Elliott was born.