"Honor him is the biggest thing": When Chase Elliott paid tribute to his late cousin and NASCAR prospect Casey Elliott

During the 2018 season, NASCAR driver Chase Elliott revealed a special livery for his #9 car in time for the September race at the Darlington Raceway. Elliott's livery was a tribute to his cousin, Casey Elliott, with the car's covering making use of a blue-and-yellow paint scheme. Casey had used a similair paint scheme when he raced in the NASCAR Southeast Pro Series and competed in two races in the Xfinity Series in 1993.

The Cup Series driver unveiled the look for his car at the Hendrick Motorsports campus in July of the 2018 season, and was joined by his father, Hall-of-Famer Bill Elliott, and Casey's father, Ernie Elliott. At the event, the #9 driver talked about why he chose to pay tribute to his cousin:

“Honor him is the biggest thing. Because I didn’t have a chance to get to know him, I felt like this was a cool thing to do. Just make people aware that there was another Elliott that was coming along racing that had a great shot to go do things and unfortunately ended too soon.”

Casey Elliott passed away at the age of 21 in 1996 due to bone cancer. Chase believed that he would've made it to the Cup Series had he not fallen sick.

“He was off to a great start before he got sick and was racing what is now the Xfinity Series and was doing a good job at it. Could have had an opportunity to move on and be racing in Cup." [via NASCAR]

The 2018 season was the HMS driver's third full-time season in the Cup Series. That year, Elliott achieved three wins, 11 top-fives, and 21 top 10s. One of those top-five finishes came at the Darlington Raceway, with Elliott ending up fifth with his car adorned in the tribute livery.

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Chase Elliott's uncle on HMS driver's tribute to cousin

Chase Elliott (9) during qualifying for the Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway, November 9th 2018 - Source: Imagn

Casey Elliott's father Ernie Elliott, an engine builder, also spoke at the event in July 2018 about the importance of Chase Elliott's tribute livery. Specifically, Ernie highlighted how the #9 paint scheme would be instrumental in raising awareness for cancer research and awareness towards the struggles his own son went through.

“I think the more important thing is … the honor of recognizing (him) this way but also the fact of what he went through the last couple years of his life and bringing that to life because cancer research needs to go at a fast pace than what it’s going today. It is considerably better than what it was 25 years ago, but there’s still more that can be done. And to be able to do this, hopefully that brings some emphasis to those programs, that they can be properly funded or funded better than what they are right now.”

This year, Chase Elliott has achieved a top-five finish, and two top-10s, in addition to securing the win at the Clash at the Bowman Gray.