Chase Elliott has been called a number of things over the course of his career.
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When he was just starting out and relatively unknown, he was simply the son of NASCAR icon Bill Elliott. Once he finally nabbed his first NASCAR Cup Series race win at the 2018 Go Bowling at The Glen, some called him the next Dale Earnhardt Jr. In 2020, Elliott surpassed Earnhardt and won the Cup title at the age of 24, making him one of the youngest champs in NASCAR history.
Now, the "The King" nickname in NASCAR is reserved for Richard Petty, but Dale Jr. brought to mind a different type of "King" when he came up with yet another moniker for Elliott: Young Elvis.
Junior first compared Chase Elliott to country music legend Elvis Presley back in 2014, after former NASCAR driver Regan Smith posted a photo of Elliott asleep at the airport the day of the CMT Awards. After that, it just sort of took off.
@ReganSmith looks like his moonlighting gig as an Elvis impersonator is catching up. He's available 4 birthdays & bachelorette parties.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) June 4, 2014
Over the years, Earnhardt continued with the Elvis comparisons in the occasional tweet. Finally, during a press conference before the 2018 Consumers Energy 400, Elliott officially gave his take on the whole "Young Elvis" thing and what he thought about Dale Jr.'s nickname-giving skills.
"I think he needs to retire from giving nicknames," Elliott said. "For some reason, he's always thought I look like Elvis, and I really don't know why. I know he's got a little bit of an obsession for Elvis."
"I know he's got an Elvis room in his house, which is kind of weird. I've been in that room before, and you wake up and there's this Elvis man staring at you. So I don't know if he just has a thing for Elvis or what. I don't — whatever. I don't think he's qualified."
Now, as it turns out, Chase Elliott is already covered on the nickname front. His full name is actually William Clyde Elliott II (named after his dad), and he got the name Chase from a family friend back when he was just a kid.
During a Dale Jr. Download episode back in 2019, Earnhardt revealed that he had just recently discovered Chase's actual name, and, boy, did it throw him for a loop.
Dale Jr.: If you go on Wikipedia, you learn a lot.
Co-host Mike Davis: That's what I should do. I should spend more time on Wikipedia. But we all agreed that Clyde Elliott's a hell of a good racing name. You don't like it I bet.
Elliott: No, I don't mind Clyde. A lot of my friends call me Clyde, actually.
Davis: They do?
Elliott: Yeah.
Davis: Well that's where you [Dale Jr.] knew it then, right?
Dale Jr.: No, I went to Wikipedia.
Davis: I stand corrected.
Dale Jr.: I'm not in the "Calling Him Clyde" circle.
Junior can actually relate to Elliott a little bit, as his full name is Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. And, while he may not be in the "Calling Him Clyde" circle, I'm sure he still brings up the "Young Elvis" thing whenever he has the chance.
This post was originally published on August 10, 2018.
