FILE – Hooters 500 winner Bill Elliott, left, and NASCAR Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki celebrate in Victory Lane following the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., in this Nov. 15, 1992, file photo. Chase Elliott will honor the late Alan Kulwicki by racing the same Hooters paint scheme that was on Kulwicki’s car in the 1992 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Kulwicki beat Bill Elliott for the Winston Cup title. Chase Elliott will run the paint scheme at Darlington Raceway on May 9, 2021. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Elliott has seen the picture somewhere — it’s hanging in their family shop, Bill Elliott confirms — of his father shaking hands with Alan Kulwicki following the 1992 season finale.
The photo symbolizes a golden era for NASCAR and shows one driver losing with grace and accepting that the best man won.
That ’92 closer is a benchmark race for NASCAR in that a nail-biting season came to an end during an emotional passing of the torch. Richard Petty retired that day, using Jeff Gordon’s first Cup race to mark his farewell, all while six drivers showed up at Atlanta Motor Speedway in contention for the Winston Cup title.
Bill Elliott entered the race ranked third out of the six, trailing both Davey Allison and Kulwicki. He’d pretty much mentally conceded the title, but wasn’t going to be embarrassed at his home track.
And so the title came down to the final stretch in a two-driver battle between Elliott and Kulwicki. It was Elliott first to the checkered flag but Kulwicki was second, and in leading a race-high 103 laps to Elliott’s 102, Kulwicki earned a five-point bonus and the Cup.
Bill Elliott and Kulwicki met in victory lane and the photograph shows a smiling Elliott shaking hands with the champion as Kulwicki hoists an open bottle of champagne.
“It’s weird, right? Because Alan beat Dad that year to win the championship,” Chase Elliott told The Associated Press. “But as I’ve been around and listened to stories about Alan and listened to my dad talk about him, there was a lot of respect there for him.