“I didn’t have my suit on”: When Chase Elliott opened up on his ‘dream about racing’ and ‘nightmare’ of missing his F1 start

Back in 2018, Chase Elliott touched upon the nightmare of missing out on Formula 1. Elliot, predominantly a NASCAR driver, also raced in other disciplines. However, he never raced in F1, but in his dream, he did. However, his dream soon turned out to be a nightmare, and he spoke about this to Jeff Gluck.

Elliot sat with Gluck of The Athletic, where he answered the customary 12 questions related to his NASCAR career, personal life, and everything around it. In one of the questions, Elliott was asked how often he dreamt about racing, and the HMS driver's response was fascinating.

"Racing’s weird. A lot of times I lay in bed at night — I don’t go to sleep very quickly — and I’ll think about it a little bit before going to bed," Elliott said. "Especially if it’s race weekend or something like coming (to Sonoma), kind of running laps around the road course in your head. And when I do that, I never fall asleep, so it kind of keeps me up. So my mind wanders elsewhere."

"The last dream I had about racing was, somehow or another I was running the Indy race somewhere. Actually it was an F1 race. Weirdest thing ever. And I get in the race, qualified like third or fourth, and we’re going out to the grid. We’re about to get into the cars and I realize I didn’t have my suit on. I was in my street clothes, and I had to go run and change really fast and I missed the start of the race. Nightmare, basically," he added.

Besides the Cup Series, Chase Elliott also participated in the tier two and three stock car series, the Xfinity and Truck Series. Apart from the three national series, he also took part in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series West and ARCA Menards Series East.

As a kid, Elliott raced in go-karts and became one of the most promising young talents in the stock car racing scene. He received monumental and life-changing lessons from his father, Bill Elliott.

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Chase Elliott recalled receiving a life lesson from father, Bill Elliott

In 2014, Chase Elliott opened up about receiving a life lesson from his father, Bill Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was an eight-year-old, driving his way into the go-karts scene.

Chase Elliott and his father, Bill Elliott. - Source: Imagn

However, on one occasion, he was far from attentive and played football with fellow go-kart drivers. Elliot Sr. noticed this and advised his son with a life-changing lesson.

"When I was about 8 years old, we were racing go-karts and I was out throwing a football around with some other drivers at the racetrack. My dad was like, "Hey, I'm not mad at you — if you want to do that stuff, then do it — but when we're at the racetrack, be at the racetrack. It's not a time to socialize or get your mind too far off what you're doing."

Bill Elliott and Chase Elliott are one of the most notable father-son duos in NASCAR. After Elliott Jr. won the championship in 2020, they became the third father-son duo to win NASCAR titles after Lee and Richard Petty, and Ned and Dale Jarrett.