Why Does Chase Elliott Have a Pilot’s License?

There are a lot of drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series that prefer to fly private, but Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott takes it to the next level by piloting his aircraft into race weekends. The Dawsonville native has a penchant for aircraft and general aviation, and a few years ago he even explained his reasons behind getting a pilot’s license and learning to fly during an interview.

Elliott mentioned, “My dad is a pilot, flying for a long time. I was very fortunate as a kid and fortunate now to grow up around him and airplanes… Just his involvement in it more than anything.”

Elliott received his private pilot’s license back in 2015 and is often known to fly his aircraft from time to time. Additionally, the HMS icon also owns a 2006 Cessna 525B private jet that carries him around to racetracks.

Chase Elliott explains what draws him towards flying

Further into the interview, Elliott was asked what drew him into aviation and what attracts him the most towards this domain. The 2020 Cup Series champion subsequently responded, “I guess the ability to kinda do your own thing.”

He added, “I guess in some way I think it would be really hard to live in Georgia without being able to fly back and forth to do things I need to do in certain places. I enjoy that too…”

Speaking further Elliott mentioned how he never attended college so he liked flying and improving his piloting abilities towards becoming a better pilot. In the end, he just hopes that his ability to fly an aircraft could end up teaching him some valuable skills that he could use in the later part of his life.

“I just like it anyway for what it is, yeah I have had fun with it,” The Hendrick Motorsports driver concluded.