Bill Elliott Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family

In 2000, Elliott sold his team to Ray Evernham and began driving the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW-sponsored Dodge Intrepid the following year. Melling Racing, who ran the No. 9 for Bill Elliott from 1981 to 1991, yielded that number to Ray Evernham for 2001. Elliott asked Evernham to drive that number out of respect for his old team. Elliott and Evernham however found success in its very first race in the No. 9 Dodge, as Elliott won the pole for the 2001 Daytona 500. It would also be the 50th pole of his career. By winning the pole, Bill Elliott would become the first, and as of 2018, the only driver in NASCAR history to score his 50th career pole in the Daytona 500. He would finish the race in the Top 5, bringing home a 5th-place finish, though the race will forever be remembered for the death of fan favorite Dale Earnhardt. Elliott finished his first season with Evernham Motorsports with two poles, five Top 5s, and nine Top 10 finishes, and one win at the Pennzoil Freedom 400 at Homestead from the pole. This was his first win since the Southern 500 in 1994, 7 years and 226 races. As of 2018, the 226 race winless streak is the longest drought in NASCAR history. However, after Melling yielded the No. 9 for 2001, Bill Elliott would win at Homestead driving that number, but this time, with Evernham Motorsports. In another ironic twist, Elliott winning at Homestead would be first time since Melling Racing and Bill Elliott himself at the Pepsi 400 in 1991, that the No. 9 went to victory lane. Elliott finished 15th in the final points standings for 2001. Elliott also withdrew from the ballot as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver, and encouraged his long time fans to vote for his friend and long time rival Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt was posthumously voted as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver for 2001. In 2002, he won four poles and went to victory lane twice; those wins included the Pennsylvania 500 and one of the most dominant victories in the history of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway a week later He finished 13th in the final points standings. For the 16th and final time in his career, Bill Elliott was voted as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver. His last win, in what became his final full-time season, came in 2003 at Rockingham. A week later, Elliott came within a lap of winning his final race as a full-time driver (he would have been the only retiring driver to do so) in the 2003 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Elliott led 189 of 267 laps and was on his way to victory, but a cut tire on the final lap allowed Bobby Labonte to score the victory (his last and most recent win to date). He still finished the race and maintained his ninth-place position in the final points standings, his best points finish since finished eighth in the 1997 standings. Elliott officially withdrew from the ballot as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver, giving the award to Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who would go on to win for 15 straight years from 2003 to 2017, a NASCAR record. A few weeks later after the 2003 season ended, Elliott announced that he was relinquishing the No. 9 car to Kasey Kahne and switching to a part-time schedule driving R&D cars for Evernham.

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