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Chase Elliott, at just 21, is no stranger to the spotlight. His father, Hall of Famer Bill Elliott is a 16-time most popular driver as well as a NASCAR champion (1988). 

Elliott grew up around the track. Fans may recall a 6-year-old Elliott refusing to participate in tradition and kiss the bricks when his father won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002. Now 15 years later Elliott has participated in three races at Indy, won the Daytona 500 pole twice, is in contention for a championship and will be driving his father's historic No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the strongest teams in recent memory, next season.

"I wasn't sure I'd ever drive the '9' again," Chase told the Associated Press in August. "It's a huge deal to my family and everyone back home [in Georgia], and I hope all of our fans will be pumped to see it back on the racetrack. There's a legacy attached to that number, and I want to carry it on. I think it's awesome that Hendrick Motorsports and NAPA wanted to do this. It's impossible not to be excited."

The phenom, despite his age, is set to be a veteran presence for Hendrick Motorsports this season with Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. heading out the door in exchange for 19-year-old William Byron and 24-year-old Alex Bowman. Byron has run strong in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year and is one of the frontrunners for the championship while Bowman had a cup of coffee at the highest level last season when he filled in for an injured Junior. 

NASCAR: Tales of the Turtles 400
Elliott looks on prior to the Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. USA TODAY Sports

In 2016 Elliott was tasked with taking over for the legendary Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 car and has not disappointed. In his first two full-time seasons, Elliott has made the playoffs both years in addition to impressively earning 32 top-10 finishes. Going forward he will have even tougher shoes to fill with the move to the No. 9 and 42-year-old teammate Jimmie Johnson getting up in age.

Assuming he doesn't surprisingly announce his retirement or that he's stepping away from the sport like Carl Edwards did after last season, the seven-time NASCAR champion Johnson will be the elder-statesman on a Hendrick team with an influx of youth. Johnson hasn't necessarily shown any signs of slowing down as he currently sits eighth in the playoff standings heading into a part of the schedule at tracks where he's earned 48 of his 83 career wins.

In this season's first playoff race at Chicagoland, Elliott showed signs that he could potentially even fill the void that'll eventually be left by the driver who has dominated the sport since the playoff era began in 2004. Despite having yet to win a race, Elliott shined on the biggest stage, winning the second stage and finishing second to none other than 37-year-old regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. Elliott moved up from 10th in the standings to sixth however his team was docked 15 points and moved down to ninth for tampering with "aerodynamic properties" in the race. Crew chief Alan Gustafson will be suspended one race and Kenny Francis is set to serve in the interim. Either way it was still an impressive performance for the No. 24.

"I did feel like we peaked about this time last year," Elliott told reporters afterward. "But this isn't last year, so it really doesn't matter."

NASCAR: Tales of the Turtles 400
Brad Keselowski (2) and Chase Elliott (24) battle at Chicagoland Speedway. USA TODAY Sports

NASCAR has had its superstars, but with drivers like Johnson and Earnhardt on the way out and potentially even Danica Patrick as well, new role-players are going to need to emerge in order to keep the sport entertaining and afloat. With his recent success, it is looking more and more likely that Elliott will be one of the drivers to follow the progression of top drivers in the sport and join the likes of Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski as a superstar that casual fans can get familiar with.

Elliott's rise to superstardom will also shine light on the arms race when it comes to manufacturers in the sport. Kyle Busch sports a Toyota and Keselowski rides in a Ford while Chevrolet will be bringing the Camaro from the Xfinity Series to the Cup level next season. As it stands, four cars in the playoffs are Toyotas, three are Ford and seven are Chevrolet. However, given the success by Busch and Truex this season in Toyotas, it has once again ignited the debate on which model is dominant. 

While Elliott didn't join in on the Twitter war, he did make the case for Chevrolet loud and clear when the green flag flew to begin the playoffs. He finished as the top performing Chevrolet last week followed by Larson (5), Johnson (8) and Jamie McMurray (10) in the top 10.

"From where we've been to where we ran (at Chicagoland) was a major, major step in the right direction," the young star told the AP as he prepares to take on Truex for a title.

The Associated Press contributed information used in this report