"He was giving me a jab there" - When Chase Elliott reflected on Ryan Blaney's helmet swap promise after his first NASCAR win

Chase Elliott once shared how he swapped the helmet from his first NASCAR Cup Series win with Ryan Blaney. At the time, Chase Elliott was winless in his third season in the premier series.

Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney, in his second Cup Series season, had one race win at Pocono Raceway during his helmet swap conversation with Elliott.

In an interview with Andrew Kurland in 2019, the Hendrick Motorsports driver said Ryan Blaney wanted his 2014 Xfinity Championship helmet. He asked the Team Penske’s Cup Series debut win helmet in exchange for the Xfinity helmet but to no avail.

“He wanted my 2014 Xfinity Championship helmet and I was like, ‘Well, I’ll trade you Cup win helmet for that.’ And he was like, ‘No," [0:24].

The drivers later agreed to swap their first Cup win helmets once the No. 9 driver secured his victory in the premier series. However, Elliott felt Blaney was poking fun at his then three-year winless Cup career.

“He said, ‘Well, I’ll do that, you know. I’ll take your first Cup win helmet if you ever get one.’ He was kind of giving me a jab there too,” [0:42]

Chase Elliott added:

“We would swap if that day ever came and luckily, it did, and yeah, I have his and he has mine.”

Chase Elliott’s first NASCAR Cup Series win was at Watkins Glen in August 2018. His No. 9 Chevrolet had a close battle with the No. 78 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. in the final lap of the race when the latter car ran out of fuel. He crossed the checkered flag ahead of Truex Jr. by 7.56 seconds.

The HMS driver scored two more wins in the 2018 season at Dover International Speedway and Kansas Speedway. They also had won one Cup Series championship each (Elliott in 2020 and Blaney in 2023).

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Chase Elliott dismissed Ryan Blaney’s backhanded compliment for him

Earlier this month, Chase Elliott didn’t take Ryan Blaney’s backhanded compliment for him ahead of the Talladega Superspeedway playoff race. When Blaney described Elliott as “Dawsonville’s finest”, the HMS driver said he wasn’t, and neither was his father Bill Elliott, who was a former NASCAR champ.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post by NASCAR veteran reporter Bob Pockrass, Elliott said:

“I'm definitely not. I'm not sure he is either. There’s got to be better than us somewhere.”

Before the 2024 YellaWood 500 race, Elliott scored 31 more points than any driver at the Talladega Superspeedy since 2022. He won two times on the track situated in Alabama, which neighbors his home state of Georgia.

While the race was won by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney had tough luck. The former driver sustained damage from the record-breaking 28-car wreck and finished in P29, while the latter was out early after a race-ending incident with Alex Bowman.