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Famous Country Singer, Who Used to Be a Pit Crew Member for Hendrick Motorsports, Supporting Chase Elliott in Nashville

Published 06/29/2022, 6:30 AM EDT

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Going to Nashville and not expecting country musicians to grace the weekend is like going to the United States and expecting people to not call football as soccer. It just can’t happen. But this time around in Nashville for the NASCAR weekend, Chase Elliott had a special country musician cheering him on.

That musician is Chase Rice.

The artist behind “Key West and Colorado” not only attended the race at the Nashville Superspeedway but stuck around through the rain delays and the late end to see the #9 take the checkered flag.

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But what’s even more interesting is the fact that Rice already has a connection with NASCAR and, in particular, Hendrick Motorsports beyond being just a fan.

This is because the musician used to be a pit crew member for Hendrick Motorsports. He was on the team of Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman.

 

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Everything fell into place for Chase Elliott late in the day at Nashville

Towards the end of the race at Nashville, it wasn’t clear who’d actually go on to take the checkered flag. Then things began to take shape in an order that would end up benefitting one driver, the eventual race winner, Chase Elliott.

Watch This Story: From Chase Elliott to Kyle Petty: NASCAR Drivers Who Are Also Pilots

This was something that wasn’t lost on him, either.

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Elliott knew the opportunity was there to get the win, but only if the circumstances went their way, which they did.

USA Today via Reuters

“Once we got the lead there, it was just trying to control my gap to him, run my race, manage my tires the best I could and not lose the lead. Then hope that a caution didn’t come out,” Elliott said.

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“I hate that it did, but it did, and fortunately it worked out for us.”

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Written by:

Shaharyar Khan Chauhan

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Shaharyar is an F1 & NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. A graduate in Journalism from Amity University, he has been a passionate follower of motorsports for a better part of the decade. A Max Verstappen and Ferrari supporter, he dreams of a pairing of the two in future.
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Edited by:

Vibhanshu Kumar