Six years ago, the cameras of Season 30 of The Real World briefly ventured from the hustle & bustle of Chicago -- and those from the roommates' past making temporary visits to the house -- to the outskirts of the third largest metropolitan region in this country. For one day, MTV Reality intersected with one of man's biggest confrontations: that against speed and machine, all played out on a large speedway and in a stadium with football-sized attendances.
It was there that the cast of Real World Skeletons spent a Sunday at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL south of the city to take in the 2014 installment of NASCAR's annual stop in Chicago for the opening race of that season's NASCAR Cup Playoffs. Tony, Nicole, Sylvia and their fellow castmates took a day out for a day at the racetrack, getting that first feel for competition that would eventually bring bring them to multiple Challenge seasons afterwards... they even hung out with a few of the drivers before they received the famous four-word command, "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!"
And yet, that too also doesn't have the kind of extensive year-round media attention that accompanies its stock-car counterparts: starting in the late 1940's, NASCAR has grown leaps and bounds from a regional happening throughout the Southeast to tremendous success across the country. Every weekend from its biggest race in Daytona in February through to the 10-race Playoffs in the fall, millions of fans follow the progress of what was, for a time, the most-watched sport in this country outside of the NFL. Though its growth has stalled somewhat, the top-tier Cup Series still remains strong, while the secondary national XFINITY Series and regional circuits showcase the next generation of drivers.
Like other sports, the 2020 NASCAR season was affected by sports' widespread shutdown due to the COVID pandemic, but it was one of the first sports to restart its engines in this country. For the first time in its nearly 50-year history, title sponsorship was ditched for the Cup Series after being sponsored by Monster Energy drinks, Sprint and RJR Tobacco. But this 2020 season also marked the last hurrah for three of its most popular drivers: Jimmie Johnson who is tied with the legendary Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Sr. for the most Cup titles with seven; 2003 champ Matt Kenseth, and Clint Bowyer.
This season saw two months' worth of racing called off by the pandemic, as racers partook in virtual racing during the quarantine, where Kyle Larson got hammered for uttering a racial slur during one of those at-home races. The NASCAR community also rallied behind its most prominent African American driver, Bubba Wallace, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement and when reports circulated of a noose being displayed outside of his team's garage at Talladega.
As there were no pre-race qualifying sessions in determining the field and who would sit on the pole as the top qualifier, all races post-restart have had their start lists determined on competition-based formula and it was Elliott who was awarded the pole. But because his Chevrolet racing car flunked pre-race inspection several times, he had to begin the race at the rear of the field for the Season Finale 500. For the past several seasons NASCAR races have divided its races into several stages, and in the first he finished 3rd behind Logano and Hemlin... but Elliott improved his position by one spot in the second to put himself into position for the race's last phase.
Nine different drivers led the field over the course of the season's last race, and the yellow flag waved only four times to slow the field due to an on-course caution. But in the end, Elliott led the most laps and crossed the line first to grab the checkered flag and win not only the season's last race... but also because he was part of the Championship Four he also won the NASCAR Cup Championship for the first time in his career. Keselowski, Logano and Hemlin followed in that final foursome, joined by Johnson in the Top 5 to round out his NASCAR career as he now looks forward to IndyCar in 2021.
A major force in fielding teams on the NASCAR series, Hendrick Motorsports, saw Chase's potential and signed him to a development deal a year after his breakout 2010, and during the midst of that whirlwind 2013 he won his first national race on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series when his truck made contact with leader Ty Dillon en route to that win. A year later, Chase moved up full-time to the XFINITY Series where he won three races in the regular season and then became the first rookie to win a NASCAR national title when he won the Grand National Series Championship, also in Arizona.
Then in 2015, Elliott would join the big boys on the NASCAR Cup Series for five races that year along with defending his XFINITY title, and moved full time to the main series the following season in taking over Jeff Gordon's former #24 car and promptly ascended to winning two straight poles for the Daytona 500. And he would have to wait two more years before he drove into Victory Lane for the first time on a Sunday: Chase notched his first three career Cup Series race wins in 2018 on a road course in Watkins Glen, NY and two during the Playoffs in Delaware and Kansas. He repeated the hat trick the following season in repeating in upstate New York, surviving the always treacherous Talladega track and the first road race at Charlotte.
Chase's 2020 season saw him made headlines in flipping the bird to Kyle Busch after a brush-up at Darlington, him getting the best of his rival in receiving a bounty during a truck race. But this was also his most productive season yet: five wins on the Cup circuit in taking both the oval and road races in Charlotte, mastering his road mastery on Daytona's road course in August, the last race of the round of 8 at Martinsville, and that last one back in Phoenix to win his first Cup title at the age of 24... and it doesn't even include winning the exhibition All-Star Race that took place at midseason in Bristol, TN. This championship sees he & father Bill join Lee & Richard Petty and Ned & Dale Jarrett as the only father-son duos to win the most coveted prize in American auto racing.
As we talk to you in mid-November, the usually-busy fall sports calendar has been affected by the pandemic: today sees golf's most prestigious event of The Masters get underway in the fall rather than in spring, the NBA and NHL are in their short offseasons after determining their champions later than usual before the drafts and free agency begin, the Dodgers continue to bask in their World Series triumph after LeBron James' Lakers gave L.A. reason to celebrate X2, and pro and college football continue on. But why are we featuring NASCAR's newest champion here?
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Back before she went up to Oregon and even now after her MTV days are long gone, Averey is a Hooters girl serving as a waiter at the famed Florida-based restaurant brand... and best recognized by the uniform of a white tank top and orange shorts - a sight also shared by Are You The One? alum Kiki from Season 3 among others. Since we last heard from Averey when she was one of the handful of those who came and went without going into elimination on Rivals III, she got to represent Arizona at the annual Hooters Pageant, and she just revealed that she will appear in next year's Hooters Calendar as Miss February... not bad of a gig.
Hooters serves as an associate sponsor of Chase Elliott's team on the NASCAR Cup Series and like other companies who want to associate themselves with this Fortune 500-friendly sport, its logo is on his #9 car along with those of Valvoline, Mountain Dew and primary sponsor NAPA. Averey first met up with Chase at last year's Phoenix fall stop (NASCAR visits the track two times a year with a stop in the early part of the season each year), and twelve months later they reconnected once again... this time after Chase hoisted the NASCAR Cup, and the Challenger/Hooters Girl sent her congrats to the new champ.
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