Folks, Chase Elliott has probably achieved pretty much all there is to achieve in NASCAR. A Cup Series championship, multiple wins, seven times consecutively winning the most popular drivers award. Yeah, that Daytona 500 win is yet to come, but you get the point. And the Hendrick Motorsports driver is just 29! But still, despite being the perfect NASCAR driver, Elliott has been called out several times for having ‘no personality.’ Rather, he’s also accused of not smiling, even after getting a win. And the same rant from fans is back with Hendrick Motorsports’ recent Instagram video.
This is also the reason why the MPD award has been bashed by NASCAR fans in the past few years. Some fans think he’s undeserving because of a lack of personality. And yes, Elliott likes to keep it quiet! “I like the private life, outside of racing, what I like to do, I like it private. He’s not the most aggressive or the loudest driver in the garage. You won’t see him in many interviews. Even in mandatory press conferences, he likes to keep it short and to the point. And even Rick Hendrick doesn’t know much about Elliott outside of work. “I don’t know what other stuff he does.” Elliott likes to keep this mystery alive, but not all fans can fathom that. And he is back at it again with his one liners and lets just say that fans aren’t buying it.
Chase Elliott gets called out again!
Look, folks, Elliott has addressed this before, and he’s been clear: he would not change his personality. No matter how much criticism he gets over it. If you recall, back in 2021, some Cup Series driver read mean online comments about them and reacted to it. And Elliott was in the mix. One comment about him was, “Even in the midst of a rivalry, Chase Elliott is the most boring man on earth.” And Elliott’s reaction to this was, “I appreciate that. Thank you. It means a lot, actually.”
Well, clearly, Chase Elliott is unbothered by what anyone says about him. That’s probably why we don’t see much of him on social media, handing autographs to fans, or in general interacting with people. And if this makes him ‘boring,’ surely the #9 driver’s got no problem with it! And what recently reignited this topic was a Hendrick Motosports Instagram video. Elliott was asked, ‘What’s Chase Elliott’s inspirational quote of the week?’ Elliott responded, “Stay the course.”
What we infer is to ‘keep going strongly to the end of a race or contest‘ or to just see a difficult task through to the end. And while that’s a nice quote, fans were hoping to get something juicy, something fun, maybe something a little controversial out of him. But he chose to reply as classic Elliott. And Elliott, steering clear of drama, is all thanks to Bill Elliott. Who, by the way, happens to be the winner of the most MPD awards in the history of the sport.
If you recall, Elliott, in a past interview, had spoken on this; he had said, “My family and my dad (Bill Elliott) had a great connection to the fans, too. And he really stayed true to who he was and focused on the things that mattered to him. They went about their business, and they went home and tried not to be a drama-filled operation. I respect a lot of how they went about their business. So I’ve just tried to do me and go on down the road.”
While Elliott is all about focusing his energy in the right places, fans want to see some personality!
Fans thrash Elliott’s ‘quote of the week’
It won’t be fair to say that Elliott lacks personality; being the ‘silent type’ is his very personality. Being a clean race car driver was Bill Elliott’s personality, too, and he was loved for it. And doesn’t that hold true for most guys in the Hendrick Motorsports camp? Neither Larson, Alex Bowman, nor William Byron, no one among the lot, are casual. Or just blurts their minds out. Well, expect Bowman’s occasional sarcasm, of course. But usually, they are always mindful of what they say. Even look at the recent Homestead weekend. Sam Mayer got into Larson’s back in the Xfinity race. This ruined his chance for a triple, but Larson did not lash out at him. It feels like at HMS, they let the racing do the talking.
And while that is nice, having some fun couldn’t hurt. And fans love it when there is some character, some banter. This is why Ross Chastain is loved so much. Guy pulls a hail melon, wrecks who he likes, and smashes a watermelon to celebrate it all. Well, Chastain, at times, might be a bit much, but you get the point. And fans are tired of Elliott and his plain, mundane self. One fan called him out. He wrote, “(Elliott) has the personality of a box of tissues.” Another fan echoing the same emotion wrote. “Sandpaper has more personality than him.”
Surely, if Elliott did a reaction video to these comments, he would still be unwavering. Elliott had previously said, “I’m not the kinda guy that’s going to seek out attention like that.” Basically, he won’t go out of his way and do something that doesn’t really help him in any way or his racing career. And Elliott thinks fans like him the way he is.
“I’ve really tried hard not to get immersed in that side of things. While I’m grateful for it and my fans have been nothing but just unbelievable to me over the course of my career, I really just try to focus on the things that matter to me. And I feel like my true fans are going to respect that.”
Well, clearly not these fans. The comment section was filled with fans replying to Elliott in Elliott’s style: one-liners: “How boring lol.” Or worse, just one word: “Lmao.” Or even worse, one fan just sent one disappointed face emoji, “.” Well, the point is that fans probably want Elliott to be more animated, more expressive, and smile a little. And to be fair, would it hurt? But don’t you feel that Elliott is a bit different this season? He almost stirred up retaliation and wrecked Ross Chastain at COTA. That’s an Elliott we haven’t seen much. Maybe he can embrace that side of him more this season.
What do you think of Chase Elliott’s personality? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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