NASCAR Champ Chase Elliott Gains From His Rolex 24 at Daytona Debut, Aims to Return Soon

With the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona done and dusted, Chase Elliott has wrapped up his maiden endurance race. Admittedly, it wasn’t quite a win, but he performed admirably for a rookie driver. The reigning Cup Series champion acknowledged that he has gained valuable information from his maiden run in the series.

On Sunday, Chase Elliott and his co-drivers piloted the #31 Cadillac to sixth in the DPi class and eighth overall. Along with Mike Conway, Pipo Derani, and Felipe Nasr, they managed to wrangle the car into the top 10. All this was in spite of various issues, including a broken gear, which cost them at least 22 laps.

“Just really appreciate these guys letting me be here,” Elliott said.

“It’s been a lot of fun. This is quite the event. What an amazing race this is. (An) honor to be a part of it. I hope I get to come back and apply some of the things I’ve learned and be able to be more of a help next time around. Just really enjoyed my time.”

Chase Elliott is happy about his progress

Despite the slightly disappointing finish, Elliott can walk away with his head held high. After nursing the car home in one piece, Elliott insisted that he is proud of how much he has improved. According to him, the difference was noticeable right from the first 12 hours of the race to the second half.

In spite of running a little wide and possibly damaging the car, he and his teammates kept pushing. From there, they were able to claw their way back into the overall top 10. From there, it was only a matter of surviving the race until the timer ran out and the checkered flag waved.

Of course, the broken gearbox did not help matters at all and only handicapped the team. Now, Chase Elliott will want to put this race behind him. From there, he can focus on the Daytona 500 in just two weeks’ time.

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