NASCAR Martinsville preview: Chase Elliott set to make anticipated Sprint Cup debut

On the spectrum of debuts the anticipation falls short of Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s, whose premier series arrival came accompanied with a “Countdown to E-Day” promotion. And it’s fair to surmise Danica Patrick’s first NASCAR race was eagerly awaited.

But while he may be lacking a countdown clock like Earnhardt or the worldwide name recognition as Patrick, don’t let that diminish the significance of Chase Elliott beginning his Sprint Cup career Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Ask around the garage and the praise offered Elliott seems almost too effusive. And yet the facts overwhelmingly support the belief that in baseball parlance, he’s a can’t-miss five-tool prospect and future Cup champion, who has the maturity is of a veteran, not of 19-year-old.

A year ago as an Xfinity (formerly Nationwide) Series rookie, Elliott won in just his sixth start. The then-high school senior backed that up by winning again the following week. Both times against stacked fields comprised with the likes of Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano.

The victories were a launching point to Elliott becoming the first rookie to win a NASCAR national series championship. More so, he was no longer just another highly-touted young driver and the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer and 1988 Cup champion Bill Elliott.

No, Chase Elliott was genuine, now possessing a résumé to match.

To the surprise of no one, Rick Hendrick handpicked Elliott to be Jeff Gordon’s successor when the four-time Cup champion steps away from full-time competition at the end of the year. In a way it’s almost fitting. As Gordon was once the highly acclaimed rookie and come 2016, Elliott will play a similar role.

“He proved last year how quick he can adapt if you give him the right equipment,” Gordon said shortly after his announcement. “The thing that impressed me the most was how he won the race at Texas. He was off the pace early and they had to work on the car -- he had to give them good information. Then he had to race a guy like Kevin Harvick to win.

“That takes not just talent but somebody who has a certain poise and determination. That’s what champions are made of.”

But before Elliott jumps permanently into Gordon’s No. 24 car, is a five-race slate to help ease the transition. Martinsville represents the first, with later starts at Richmond in April, Charlotte in May, Indianapolis in July and Darlington in September.

Of the five races, Sunday will likely present the biggest challenge. The flat paperclip shaped track with long straightaways and tight hairpin corners is among the most perplexing on the Cup schedule. Further compounding the difficulty is Elliott has precious little seat-time on the Virginia short track (Martinsville doesn’t have an Xfinity date) and rain washed away much of Friday practice.

And there was doubt whether Elliott would even make Sunday’s race, as had the skies not cleared rules dictated points would set the linuep. Meaning, he would have missed the cut and the much-hyped debut would’ve been postponed until next month. Eventually the rain relented, and Elliott qualified 27th for his first Cup start.

“I went to bed last night, disappointed, looking at the weather,” Elliott said. “Part of me had a hard time going to sleep. ... I wasn’t too excited about making the drive over here in the rain.”

As it is for any rookie at Martinsville, Elliott’s goal is rather modest: just complete all 500 laps. Far easier said than done, however, on a track where inevitable contact and frayed nerves combined with inexperience gives him a decided disadvantage.

To better prepare, Elliott called Gordon and the two spoke at length this week. Among the key suggestions Gordon offered were braking points and how soon to hit the throttle off corners.

“This is a tough race track, especially without testing,” Gordon said. “I kind of love it because he’s being challenged in a big way, and I think he’s very capable of living up to that.

“With a Hendrick car, his talents and our setups, I have all the faith in the world that under normal circumstances that he’d shine this weekend. But it’s certainly going to be a steep learning curve.”

Even then, Elliott’s finish Sunday will likely be nothing flashy. Which in the grand scheme means little and nothing more than a footnote. Gordon crashed out of in his first Cup race. In the next, he nearly won the Daytona 500.

“Obviously, we want to go as fast as we can for as long as possible,” Elliott said. “We don’t want to aim to not run well, but we want to do the best we can and make the most of these races and try to just gain as much knowledge as possible.

“You just want to put together 500 solid laps on Sunday and try to run all the laps and hope we can have a good day.”