Dawsonville native Chase Elliott is an upcoming star on the racing scene.

Son of Sprint Cup legend Bill Elliott, the younger Elliott is making a name for himself in the racing world.

The team drives throughout the Southeast in his No. 9 Aaron’s Ford and has claimed first place in two Georgia Asphalt Series wins so far this season.

His first victory came on May 2 at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton. His second win came in Montgomery at the Watermelon Capital Speedway.

Elliott is also leading the GAS series points standings only five points ahead of teammate Casey Roderick.

The Dawson Community News recently sat down with the 13-year-old racing phenom just before his recent race in Braselton.

How did you start your racing career?

I started in dirt go-carts when I just turned 8. I then moved up to asphalt go-carts and Shifter cars and then the Bandolaros.

From there to the Legends, then on to the Late Model cars where we are right now. Hopefully, we will get to run some Super Late Model races with some of the bigger guys like Kyle Busch and Dave Stremme.

We hope to run some races like the Snowball Derby and the All-American 400.

Our goal is to run some of these Super Late Model races starting this coming Friday in Pensacola, if all goes well tonight (last Saturday night) and we don’t tear anything up.

That’s our goal for next weekend and whatever comes along down the road. I hope we get some good opportunities and make it to the Sprint Cup one day.

How much did your dad influence you?

My dad helps me a lot. I’ve been around racing pretty much since I was born and just kind of thought it was something I wanted to do. When I kind of grew up a little bit, I got old enough where I could do something, there was some dirt go-cart racing close to home and just kind of got into it there.  We just worked our way up.

How about your mom (Cindy Elliott)?

Oh yeah! My mom is a big time supporter. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it today. I think this is probably the first race she hasn’t been to. She is definitely a big supporter and she does all our media stuff with Amy (Umlor), media and public relations.

To what do you attribute your success this season?

Ricky Turner is our crew chief and does a great job. Darren and Greg Turner are friends of ours and help tremendously with our car. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done and just everybody. Brian Turner has also been a big help. Jim, when he is not helping Casey (Roderick), has also been a big  help.

Everybody has been a great contributor to our success. Mom and Dad, Aaron’s, Ricky, and everybody that has given us this chance and making us run that good. Casey (Elliott’s teammate) is a  good kid and good driver. He has definitely helped me. Just running with him and running out of the same shop and stuff like that.

More of Elliott’s interview will be in next week’s edition. In the follow-up, Elliott will talk about his two years in Colorado, racing go-carts, his hobbies, the Sports Illustrated article and his goals for the remainder of this season and his future.

After finishing third in Saturday’s rain-shortened race, Elliott will make his debut this Friday in Pensacola in the Super Late Models. His crew will then jump in their truck and head to Anderson, S.C. for a race Saturday.