Elliott holds the track record for fastest qualifying speed at Talladega at 212.809 miles per hour (342.483 km/h) and Daytona International Speedway at 210.364 miles per hour (338.548 km/h), both of which were set in 1987; the mark at Talladega is the fastest qualifying speed for any NASCAR race ever. With the usage of restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega since 1988, it is highly unlikely that these two qualifying speed records will ever be topped. Elliott also holds the distinction of recording a track record at Talladega Superspeedway of 6 consecutive pole positions from 1985 to 1987.
In 1985, Elliott made history by winning the first-ever Winston Million, a million-dollar bonus to any driver that could win three out of the four crown jewel races of NASCAR: The Daytona 500 at Daytona, the Winston 500 at Talladega, the World 600 at Charlotte, and the Southern 500 at Darlington. In a year dominated by Elliott, Bill went on to win 11 races (with 4 "season sweeps": Atlanta, Pocono, Michigan, and Darlington) and 11 poles, with three of those 11 wins being in the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, and the Southern 500, earning Bill the "Winston Million Dollar Bonus" and earning him the nickname "Million Dollar Bill".
Elliott won NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award a record 16 times (1984-1988, 1991–2000, 2002). He withdrew his name from the ballot for that award after winning it in 2002. In 2005, the Georgia State Legislature declared October 8 as Bill Elliott Day in the state of Georgia. Elliott was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, and has been inducted into numerous racing and motorsports Halls of Fame, including being inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and being an inaugural inductee into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2002. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007, inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame at Darlington in 2015, and into the 2015 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Elliott has also been honored by the state legislature with a stretch of roadway (the entirety of Georgia State Route 183) in his native Dawson County renamed Elliott Family Parkway.

Return to Bill Elliott Autograph Profile