Chase Elliott will drive the No. 8 for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway, the team announced Thursday, Feb. 7.
No stranger to the series, the 2014 Xfinity Series champion will carry sponsorship from AfterShokz in the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 on Feb. 16.
“This is more than just putting a driver in a car,” JRM general manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller said in a team release. “Chase is family to us and an integral part of our history. He helped kick start our run of championships back in 2014 and has driven our cars to victory in several prestigious events, including a win at Daytona in 2016. We jumped at the chance of having one of our own return for this race.”
In addition to his championship, Elliott has tabulated five wins in 80 Xfinity starts to go with 33 top fives and 64 top 10s in the secondary series.
In 2016, the Dawsonville, Ga., native made the move to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Last season, Elliott finish sixth in the final MENCS standings and was named the Most Popular Driver of 2018 by the National Motorsports Press Association.
Elliott competed in eight NXS events last season, seven of which came for GMS Racing. The other came in this very race last year while driving for JRM, scoring a 12th-place finish.
“I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel for JRM in Daytona,” Elliott said. “Kelley, Dale and the entire organization have been so great to work with over the years. We won this race back in 2016 and this year we’re looking to get back into victory lane with AfterShokz.”
Elliott will be joined by teammates Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson, who will compete full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2019 for the team.
The No. 8 will also be piloted by Zane Smith, Spencer Gallagher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeb Burton, Ryan Truex and Ryan Preece throughout the 2019 season. Gallagher was originally announced as the driver for Daytona and is expected to compete in the remaining superspeedway events.
About the author
Never at a loss for words, Zach Gillispie is a young, talented marketing professional from North Carolina who talks and writes on the side about his first love: racing! Since joining Frontstretch in 2018, Zach has served in numerous roles where he currently pens the NASCAR 101 column, a weekly piece delving into the basic nuts and bolts of the sport. Additionally, his unabashedly bold takes meshed with that trademarked dry wit of his have made Zach a fan favorite on the weekly Friday Faceoff panel. In his free time, he can be found in the great outdoors, actively involved in his church, cheering on his beloved Atlanta Braves or ruthlessly pestering his colleagues with completely useless statistics about Delma Cowart.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.