NASCAR Cup Champion Set To Race A Midget At The Chili Bowl

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11-25-2020, 10:02 AM
CIRF

NASCAR Cup Champion Set To Race A Midget At The Chili Bowl

The allure of the biggest and best dirt event of the whole year has captured the attention of reigning NASCAR Cup Champion. Chase Elliott has a Chili Bowl midget ride with DIAEDGE Racing.

Elliott's interest in The Chili Bowl further indicates how relevant the CB is to all of American racing.

Young Mr. Elliott seems to grasp how beneficial it is to a driver legacy to be diverse in their driver exploits and he believes there are lessons to be learned from spending time in a midget that can relate to a NASCAR Cup car.
11-25-2020, 10:54 AM
over4T

Somewhat a surprise as I don't believe Elliot has much, if any, experience in other than the NASCAR type stockers. We're all aware that a lot of the Cup guys came from open wheel background and a lot of them either dabble in or return to them when their NASCAR days end. I'm sure Elliot will pick up a few things and probably have a blast doing so.

Merced, CA's 1/4 dirt bullring ended the USAC midget season this past weekend and had a couple of Cup guys in that very entertaining show. Kyle Larsen came from from mid pack to, I think, 4th while Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. didn't do as well finishing around 13th. Watched it on Flo and Tanner Thorsen prevailed over Buddy Kofoid as they swapped the lead several times on a narrow and very racey track. Good show.
11-25-2020, 11:32 AM
Rajflyboy

Is the diaedge car and team pretty good? This will certainly make things even more spicey.
11-25-2020, 12:48 PM
slideiton

The car is owned by Chase Briscoe. Chase got the sponsorship for the Diaedge event at Millbrige Speedway this December, but of course with conflict of sponsors for Chase being now at Stewart Haas Racing. So Briscoe is running Elliot in a 2nd car for both Millbrige and the Chili Bowl.
11-25-2020, 01:15 PM
CIRF

Quote:

Originally Posted by over4T

Somewhat a surprise as I don't believe Elliot has much, if any, experience in other than the NASCAR type stockers. We're all aware that a lot of the Cup guys came from open wheel background and a lot of them either dabble in or return to them when their NASCAR days end. I'm sure Elliot will pick up a few things and probably have a blast doing so.

Merced, CA's 1/4 dirt bullring ended the USAC midget season this past weekend and had a couple of Cup guys in that very entertaining show. Kyle Larsen came from from mid pack to, I think, 4th while Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. didn't do as well finishing around 13th. Watched it on Flo and Tanner Thorsen prevailed over Buddy Kofoid as they swapped the lead several times on a narrow and very racey track. Good show.

over, Elliott has some competitive laps in a dirt late model during the days prior to him getting a NASCAR ride. There probably isn't much of what he learned in a DLM that will apply to a midget but since I've never driven either one I'm only speculating.

Were you racing at Merced during the 2 night USAC show, over4T? The place is a racy little joint. Did you race at Bakersfield on the Tuesday before the Merced weekend? The Saturday night A-main at Merced was some of the better racing we've seen all year. Thorson, Kofoid and Courtney put on a spectacular show for the lead!! Midget racing at it's finest, for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rajflyboy

Is the diaedge car and team pretty good? This will certainly make things even more spicey.

The Chili Bowl is one of the highest profile dirt events of the season and gets everyone's full attention every January but Elliott will certainly bring some stock car fans onboard to watch him try his hand at the midgets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slideiton

The car is owned by Chase Briscoe. Chase got the sponsorship for the Diaedge event at Millbrige Speedway this December, but of course with conflict of sponsors for Chase being now at Stewart Haas Racing. So Briscoe is running Elliot in a 2nd car for both Millbrige and the Chili Bowl.

Thanks a ton for the updated info, slideiton. Elliott racing a midget at Millbridge will no doubt create a sizable increase in interest in the December Millbridge event!

slideiton, have you heard whether or not the Millbridge event will be broadast as a PPV. Sure hope so!! Millbridge will be the only pre-Chili Bowl tune up so there may be several of the USAC National Midget regulars and possibly Larson, Bell, Stenhouse, et al, show up. Could be/should be a hell of a show!
11-25-2020, 01:46 PM
slideiton

The Millbridge Midget race will be on Speed51.TVRace fans unable to attend the DiaEdge Carolina Midget Showdown will be able to watch Elliott take on the rest of the Midget stars taking part in the event on Speed51.TV. More entries will be announced in the days leading up to the event on December 12-13. Speed 51, is 9.99 a month or 79.99 a year, but that doesn't include events like the week prior's Snowball Derby for the year.
https://speed51.com/nascar-champ-cha...midget-racing/
11-25-2020, 02:28 PM
CIRF

Quote:

Originally Posted by slideiton

The Millbridge Midget race will be on Speed51.TVRace fans unable to attend the DiaEdge Carolina Midget Showdown will be able to watch Elliott take on the rest of the Midget stars taking part in the event on Speed51.TV. More entries will be announced in the days leading up to the event on December 12-13. Speed 51, is 9.99 a month or 79.99 a year, but that doesn't include events like the week prior's Snowball Derby for the year.
https://speed51.com/nascar-champ-cha...midget-racing/

Thanks again, slideiton!

It appears that the Millbridge midget show will be available to subscribers only. I presume I'll be able to subscribe for a month to allow us to watch. If you are aware of any variation of that policy please let us know. I thing I'll wait unti December 1st to purchase the monthly subscription.
11-25-2020, 02:32 PM
slideiton

I have no idea, I just looked at subscribing myself for the Midget event at milbridge. MAVTV seems to air lots of Speed 51 produced events after the fact on Short Track America.
11-25-2020, 08:42 PM
CIRF

Quote:

Originally Posted by slideiton

I have no idea, I just looked at subscribing myself for the Midget event at milbridge. MAVTV seems to air lots of Speed 51 produced events after the fact on Short Track America.

I've never seen any dirt racing on Short Track America. Not saying there never has been but I've never seen any.
11-26-2020, 11:02 AM
over4T

CIRF, Regarding your query about us at Merced and Bako it's no to both. Although we've run Merced on occasions over the last 30 years in it's various configurations we haven't had a Pro Stock show there in several years. Bakersfield we often run the Turkey show there but that isn't happening this year.

We called it a season November 8th at Stockton with a so so 5th place finish. We'd blown up our primary engine at Antioch's Halloween race, the biggest show of the season for the Tri State Tour. Had the best car count of the season with 28, the highest purse of the season with $2,500 to win and were having the kids trick or treat in the pits during a break. We traditionally spend considerable time decorating the car up for Halloween, this year with cobwebs, witches, ghosts, etc. only to break while running near the front in our heat. The kids loved it and we gave out a bunch of candy so we still had a good time.

I pulled the freshened long block I did last January from the new car, put all the pumps, pullies, carb, dizzy etc. on it and broke it in on Friday night, the first time it was started since the build and off to Stockton on Sunday. Car was good in the heat but had a couple of plug wires loosen so ended up starting 9th in the main. The son was moving up nicely and the track went bone dry with the 20 mph winds and everyone's RR tires were getting fried, Some lost several positions & we just maintained 5th so kind of a disappointment.

They had a drifting show on the other side of the fairgrounds and several of us were joking that we might as well have run that 'cept these cars aren't very good at turning right & left nor on asphalt.

With only about 6 weeks until the 2021 season (hopefully) begins at Stockton's 4/10 there's really no off season any more. The fun and effort never ends.
11-26-2020, 11:17 AM
CIRF

Quote:

Originally Posted by over4T

CIRF, Regarding your query about us at Merced and Bako it's no to both. Although we've run Merced on occasions over the last 30 years in it's various configurations we haven't had a Pro Stock show there in several years. Bakersfield we often run the Turkey show there but that isn't happening this year.

We called it a season November 8th at Stockton with a so so 5th place finish. We'd blown up our primary engine at Antioch's Halloween race, the biggest show of the season for the Tri State Tour. Had the best car count of the season with 28, the highest purse of the season with $2,500 to win and were having the kids trick or treat in the pits during a break. We traditionally spend considerable time decorating the car up for Halloween, this year with cobwebs, witches, ghosts, etc. only to break while running near the front in our heat. The kids loved it and we gave out a bunch of candy so we still had a good time.

I pulled the freshened long block I did last January from the new car, put all the pumps, pullies, carb, dizzy etc. on it and broke it in on Friday night, the first time it was started since the build and off to Stockton on Sunday. Car was good in the heat but had a couple of plug wires loosen so ended up starting 9th in the main. The son was moving up nicely and the track went bone dry with the 20 mph winds and everyone's RR tires were getting fried, Some lost several positions & we just maintained 5th so kind of a disappointment.

They had a drifting show on the other side of the fairgrounds and several of us were joking that we might as well have run that 'cept these cars aren't very good at turning right & left nor on asphalt.

With only about 6 weeks until the 2021 season (hopefully) begins at Stockton's 4/10 there's really no off season any more. The fun and effort never ends.

Good luck getting everything ready for 2021 and we hope you have plenty of success throughout the season.

Our Chili Bowl group had a trip planned to go west and meet up for the Hangtown at Placerville and Turkey Night at Ventura with some vacationing in between. We had the airbnb, flights and rental cars all booked and ready to go. Well, you know what happened with all that! Had we headed out that way I would have suggested that you come to Placerville and hang with all of us flatlanders for an evening if it was possible on your end. Oh well, I reckon there is always next year.

Have a great and safe Thanksgiving over4T.