Hendrick Motorsports announced last week that Dawsonville's Chase Elliott will run nine races in the NASCAR's World Truck Series this year.

Driving the No. 94 Aaron's Chevrolet, the son of NASCAR champion Bill Elliott said he's honored to have Aaron's support as he takes steps in his promising racing career.

"It's an honor to have such big support from Aaron's - from racing Legends and late models, now to the truck series," said the 17-year-old. "I'm excited to get behind the wheel again and get 2013 started."

He will also run five races in the ARCA Racing Series this season.

Elliott's first truck race will be April 6 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.

Local racing historian and president of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Gordon Pirkle has been watching the prodigy driver since his first go-kart race.

"He's something else. He's going to put Dawsonville back on the map," Pirkle said, referring to the years when Bill Elliott dominated NASCAR and fans flocked from all over the southeast to Dawsonville, considered by many to be the birthplace of NASCAR.

Pirkle said the community has to come together to support Chase Elliott like it did when his father was on TV racing every Sunday.

"Back when Bill was racing, those announcers never just said ‘Bill Elliott.' It was always ‘Million Dollar Bill' or ‘Wild Bill from Dawsonville,'" Pirkle said. "They always said Dawsonville, Georgia, and that was big for us. We've got to get on that, or we might miss out."