Today, Dawsonville, Georgia’s Bill Elliott announced his 2011 plans for the NASCAR Sprint Cup season today via his website, BillElliott.com. Since semi-retiring after the 2003 season, the 16-time Most Popular Driver has been driving part-time.

Mostly in Fords, the 1988 NASCAR Cup Champ has won 44 Sprint Cup races and 55 poles. He will start the season as a Chevrolet driver, although for the first time in his career. In a minimum of 18 races this season, he has teamed up with James Finch’s Phoenix Racing to run the No. 09 Chevrolet.

At Daytona, the new combo will start the season. Elliott has four Sprint Cup wins at Daytona. In the Great American Race, Finch has finishes of third, fourth, ninth, 10th and 12th. Finch has finishes of third, fourth, ninth, 10th and 12th, Phoenix Racing team also has a Cup victory at Daytona’s sister track, in 2009 with Brad Keselowski driving.

Phoenix Team owner, James Finch said that he is committed to 18 to 20 of the races. With the first 8 or 10 races in a row, they are soon going to start off. They will try to get squared away, be able to race the whole year and get in the top 35 in points.

Last year, Phoenix Racing qualified for 28 of the 36 Cup events to finish 39th in the owner standings. Elliott will need to make the Daytona 500 on speed because it did not finish in the top 35 in owner points, through his qualifying race finish or a past champion’s provisional. The team is not currently planning on competing in that event, although Elliott is eligible for the Budweiser Shootout.

Last year, in the Daytona 500, Elliott started 40th and finished 27th. With the Wood Brothers last year, he drove the first of 12 races. He was 15th in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which was his best finish. With 44 career victories and 821 career starts, Elliott ranks 15th all-time. 2003 was his last full-time season.