ELKHART LAKE – Bill Elliott’s first attempt to race at Road America this season went up in smoke, but he’ll get another chance later this month with the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The NASCAR Hall of Famer will drive GMS Racing’s No 23 Chevrolet in the Aug. 25 Johnsonville 180, the team announced Saturday.
The race will be the 62-year-old Elliott’s first in NASCAR in more than six years. His son, Chase, has driven a GMS Camaro four times this season with a top finish of second at Pocono in June.
“When this opportunity came up from Mike (Beam, GMS president), I had to jump on it,” Elliott said in the announcement. “Chase has ran a handful of races for the team, so I figured I would give it a shot at Road America. Beam and I have worked together in the past, so it will be exciting to get back behind the wheel and bring back some old memories.”
Beam served as Elliott’s crew chief on Junior Johnson’s team in 1993 and ’94.
Elliott won 44 times in NASCAR’s top division in a career that started in 1976, covered 828 starts, included the 1988 Cup Series title and culminated with his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.
The most recent his 43 starts in what is now the Xfinity Series came in 2007. Elliott won once in the division, in 1993.
Elliott had planned to run an old Evernham Motorsports Dodge Cup car in Road America’s vintage weekend in July but blew an engine in the first day of testing at the 4-mile track.
Road America has hosted the Xfinity Series since 2010 and also had a Cup (then-Grand National) race in 1956.
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