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Star Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott interacted with his fans at Bristol Motor Speedway and shared a Coca-Cola bottle with a fan to bounce back from the PR mishap at Darlington Raceway. Last weekend, Elliott and his sponsor, Coca-Cola, found themselves in an awkward moment on live TV.
During the pre-race show at Darlington Raceway, #9 Hendrick Motorsports driver was resting on the stage during driver introductions when Fox's Regan Smith approached him for an interview. Just as Elliott opened his bottle of Coca-Cola, it fizzed up and spilled over his race suit, which was caught on the broadcast.
Fast forward to next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, where fans swarmed Elliott's merchandise trailer as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver held an autograph session. In a light-hearted nod to the fizzy mishap, Elliott shared a bottle of Coca-Cola with a lucky fan, turning the previous week's blunder into a cheeky promotion.
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Watch fan-favorite Chase Elliott interacting with his fans at Bristol Motor Speedway:
Watch Elliott's Coca-Cola bottle explode at Darlington in the video below:
Chase Elliott is a part of the Coca-Cola Racing family, including three-time Cup champion Joey Logano, 3x Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, and Daniel Suarez.
Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports announced Coke as the official beverage partner for the #9 Chevy driver in 2023. His dad, Bill Elliott, was the founding member of the Coca-Cola Racing family formed in 1998, alongside other legendary drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, and others.
Bill also holds the record for winning the most NASCAR Most Popular Driver awards with 16. Chase Elliott is following in his father’s footsteps, winning seven consecutive awards.
Chase Elliott lines up as third-best Hendrick driver at Bristol
Chase Elliott was the third-fastest Hendrick Motorsports driver in the qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway. He will start 20th on the grid for the Food City 500, with his teammate Alex Bowman on pole and Kyle Larson on the second row. William Byron will start 26th.
Although Elliott showed promising speed in the practice session, Bowman and Larson posted their lap times early in the session, with Elliott posting his time on different track conditions. With a lap time of 14.912, Bowman broke the track record for the Next Gen car at the half-mile oval.
The Food City 500 is expected to be a tire management race, as drivers struggled to complete 40 lap stints during the practice session. Goodyear has already allocated an extra tire set for each team on race day, giving teams 11 sets to complete the 500 laps.
The green flag for the Cup race drops at 3:11 PM ET. Catch Elliott and his teammates live in action on FS1.
