Chase Elliott is used to being the fastest man on the track at Bristol Motor Speedway. But 100 days from now, Ronald Acu?a Jr. and Elly De La Cruz will be fighting for that title.
The countdown is on for the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic on Aug. 2, when the Braves will face off against the Reds at the iconic NASCAR track in Bristol, Tenn.
Elliott, a fan-favorite driver who's been voted NASCAR's most popular driver seven years in a row, is ready for baseball to take over the speedway.
Elliott is a Georgia native and a Braves fan, not to mention the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion. He even threw out the first pitch at the Braves' NASCAR Night at Truist Park last September. And as he races his way around the country and meets NASCAR fans who love him, a lot of them tell him that they're Braves fans, too.
"Certainly around home, as the hometown team, you get it a lot," Elliott said Thursday during a visit to MLB headquarters in New York City, as he joined MLB Network to talk about the upcoming Speedway Classic. "But I have always been surprised traveling -- and we get to see a lot of the country -- just how many people that you would never expect are huge Braves fans, too, and always express that to me."
Elliott -- whose father, Bill, was a NASCAR champion in the 1980s -- was born just after the Braves won the 1995 World Series. So the highlight of his lifetime of Braves fandom is, of course, Atlanta's title run in 2021.
The year after he won the NASCAR Drivers' Championship, Elliott got to watch his Braves win the World Series. He went to all three Fall Classic games in Atlanta, including the Braves' wins over the Astros in Games 3 and 4.
"It was amazing. One of the greatest sporting events I've ever been to," Elliott said. "I think all of us that have grown up around the Atlanta area, who are just big Braves fans, knew how special it was. It was everything that we hoped it would be."
Funnily enough, Elliott's most memorable moment from the 2021 World Series in Atlanta came from the game the Braves lost, Game 5. That's because he pulled out all the stops to make it to the ballpark when the Braves had a chance to clinch the World Series at home.
Elliott had a race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia the day of the game. He didn't think he would make it back to Atlanta in time to see Game 5 in person.
"I ran the race in Martinsville, got back home and had pretty much decided I wasn't gonna go," Elliott recalled. "But they had a chance to win it that night."
Elliott was driving home when Adam Duvall hit a grand slam for Atlanta in the first inning. So he turned around and, well, raced to Truist Park.
"They hit the home run, and I was like, 'Oh, they're gonna win this thing tonight. I have to go,'" Elliott said. "I just didn't want to miss it if they ended up winning it at home."
The Astros came back to win that game, but it didn't matter. The Braves won the next game, and the series, at Minute Maid Park.
"It was chaos," Elliott said. "It was still cool to see them win it in Houston."
When baseball comes to the racetrack for the first time in August, Elliott's looking forward to watching the showdown of two of MLB's current superstars and top speedsters: De La Cruz and Acu?a, MLB's last two stolen base kings.
De La Cruz swiped 67 bags last season for the Reds. He can circle the bases as fast as a car goes around the track at Bristol. De La Cruz took just 14.96 seconds to complete his inside-the-park home run against the Brewers last April, which is right around the fastest lap times recorded at Bristol in NASCAR Cup races.
And Acu?a, who should be back with the Braves in plenty of time for the Speedway Classic after last year's torn left ACL, stole 73 bases in 2023 during his MVP campaign. He put up the first 40-homer, 70-steal season in MLB history.
"Acu?a's been a blast to watch," Elliott said. "I'm sure he'll come back hot and ready to get back after it."
Elliott also has connections to the Braves stars who came before Acu?a, like Chipper Jones. Elliott first met the Braves legend years ago, when Jones showed up to one of his races. They still run into each other once in a while -- including for the 2025 Speedway Classic, which they're both helping to promote.
"I remind Chip about his age every now and again when I see him," Elliott joked. "He was an animal, and it was so cool for him to spend his entire career in Atlanta."