Continuing to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, Chase Elliott will add Nitro Rallycross to a burgeoning list of moonlighting endeavors over the past year.
The NRX Series announced that Elliott will be racing in the series’ inaugural season finale Dec. 4-5 at The Firm in North Florida. The series’ events are broadcast live on Peacock Premium.
Elliott will be following fellow Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who just missed finishing on the podium on Travis Pastrana’s rally circuit in Round 3 at Phoenix on Nov. 13-14.
“I’m really looking forward to racing in Nitro RX at the season finale in Florida,” Elliott said in a release. “I enjoy the challenge of trying out other forms of racing and have recently taken up dirt racing, so getting in a rallycross car is really appealing. Nitro RX is thrilling to watch and from what Travis Pastrana and some of the other drivers have told me, it is just as thrilling to be behind the wheel. I can’t wait.”
we got him!@chaseelliott is in for round 5 😈 pic.twitter.com/cIJomVsSAu
— Nitrocross (@Nitrocross_) November 23, 2021
Said Pastrana: “It’s absolutely awesome for our sport to see NASCAR Cup champions like Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch compete in Nitro Rallycross. Kyle had so much fun and a very impressive fourth-place finish at Nitro Rallycross in Phoenix. Chase is bar none one of the greatest driving talents in motorsport, and having an elite driver of his caliber opens Nitro RX to a new audience. Chase joining us for the Florida finale is a great way to close out the 2021 series.”
Elliott has been branching out since winning the 2020 Cup Series championship, adding dirt racing and sports cars to his resume.
“I think getting outside your comfort zone is huge,” Elliott said during last week’s Next Gen test at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I feel like that’s what I’ve really tried hard to challenge myself in doing the past year or so.
“Everything you get in is a little different. Everything you get in has a little different sweet spot of that perfect balance, kind of what you’re trying to achieve on asphalt or dirt, I feel like.”
The NRX Series features turbocharged 600-horsepower, all-wheel-drive vehicles on a course with jumps of more than 100 feet. Elliott will be competing against an experienced field of rally champions such as Pastrana, Tanner Foust and Scott Speed, a veteran of NASCAR and Formula One.
“The track is being built right now so Chase will have as much time on it as anyone coming into this race,” said Pastrana, the NRX points leader after Round 4 at Glen Helen Raceway last weekend in Southern California. “And with so much tarmac in Florida I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chase end up on the podium, but I would be very impressed. I look forward to seeing how his skills transfer over to all-wheel drive Supercars and can’t wait to go door to door with one of the youngest NASCAR Cup champion of all time.”