Chase Elliott’s miseries of late have resulted in one man being happy: Tyler Reddick. For a long time now, the 23XI Racing star’s young son, Beau, had been naming the Elliott as his favorite driver even above his father. But the boy’s priorities have now changed after the 2023 season.
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Despite being a Cup Series champion and the strongest name in the garage of Hendrick Motorsports, the loss of young Beau’s support has still taken Elliott aback.
Prompted by a reporter with a question from Reddick asking how it felt like not being Beau’s favorite driver anymore, Elliott said, “That’s devastating! That hurts, honestly. It must have been recent because I saw a picture of him. He was all decked out in his NAPA firesuit for Halloween. Man, I liked Beau too! So, that sucks.”
He was devastated, @TylerReddick. @chaseelliott | #di9 | @TeamHendrick pic.twitter.com/oHd4OsmZxW
— Charlotte Motor Speedway (@CLTMotorSpdwy) January 17, 2024
Reddick had not liked Beau naming Elliott as his favorite earlier. Talking to reporter Jeff Gluck in 2022, he said how Beau could easily recognize the colors of the #9 Hendrick Motorsports car and would call it out, ‘Daddy Chase’.
In his words, “It does make me mad that his favorite cars are Chase, second one is Kyle Busch, third one is Joey (Logano), and then I think it’s Kevin (Harvick). I’m not even anywhere in the top 10, I don’t think.”
Beau Reddick’s shift of allegiance from Chase Elliott and his love for race cars
In an episode of Door, Bumper, Clear podcast from last month, Reddick revealed how his son had changed his favorite driver. Crediting the shift to his good fortunes and Elliott’s bad, he said, “I would say he’s got a number one favorite, but he’ll always say, Daddy, Bubba, Chase, and then he’ll say Denny.”
Reddick also mentioned in his interview with Gluck how Beau wanted to do nothing but check out his father’s race car and the other ones on the grid. Back during the 2022 Daytona 500, the boy had accompanied his father’s car through inspection and had not wanted to part ways with it till it entered the pit stall.
Reddick said, “Last thing he wants to do is sleep, and all he wants to do is push my car around tech, then go look at all the other race cars to get up close to them.”
Going to 2024, Chase Elliott will have a lot to race for, and regaining the support of little Beau will certainly be a goal on that list.
