1on1: Bill Elliott

He recently turned 53 years of age, and he's still racing.

In fact, Bill Elliott will race not only in the Sprint Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend (probably for the final time in his career), but also in the Bill Elliott 50 Red Dirt Dash Late Model event at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., which is located just north of Atlanta.

The guy just can't get enough. Named NASCAR's most popular driver by fans a remarkable (and record) 16 times, winner of 44 Cup races and 55 poles, Elliott talked with NASCAR.COM about life in the fast lane and how he might eventually slow down someday, sooner rather than later.

Q: You're coming off a pretty respectable run at Martinsville, where you placed 16th in the No. 21 Ford you drive part-time now for Wood Brothers Racing. How did that feel?

Elliott: Yeah, that wasn't too bad for us. I was glad it was still rollin' at the end of the day.

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about this charity deal you've got going on this Saturday at Dixie Speedway, where you won your first race three decades ago?

Elliott: We're trying to base a little bit off Tony [Stewart's Prelude to the Dream dirt-track race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio]. He helps Victory Junction Gang, and I'm trying to help the Children's Health Care of Atlanta. We're trying to raise some money for 'em. We'd like to try to make it an annual deal, somehow, some way.

We kind of got sidetracked on this deal. [Track owner] Mickey's son Mike Swims [who operated the track] died last year. He had been fighting cancer for a while. So we had it all set up and when that all happened it threw everything in a tizzy. Then we were going to do it the first of the year, and I just don't think Mickey could deal with it that early [after his son's death].

Q: Talk a little bit about running Cup events in Atlanta, your home track where you've won five times in your career?

Elliott: I haven't been as successful on the new configuration as I was on the old one. But Atlanta is still home. I still like to go there and run that racetrack. It's always been a lot of fun.

But I think the Wood boys -- Len and Eddie -- it's an ongoing deal. You're tryin' to build a better mousetrap, a better race team and it's just hard to do. A single-car entity, I don't know if it's impossible, but it sure makes it tough. (Continued)