Chase Elliott Records His 13th Top-10 Finish of 2016
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS Assurance of Quality Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports, finished 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway Sunday evening. The yellow-and-black paint scheme that adorned Elliott’s Chevrolet was chosen to honor NAPA AUTO PARTS’ storied history dating back to 1925. The car mimicked a retro NAPA delivery truck and featured the company’s 1963 logo.
Elliott rolled his special Southern 500 scheme off of the grid in 11th after NASCAR cancelled all on-track activity Friday due to Hurricane Hermine thus setting the field according to the NASCAR Rule Book. He dropped back quickly after kissing the wall on Lap 12, but maintained position enough not to get lapped.
Following the first caution of the race, which caught many competitors on pit road, Elliott’s crew was able to fix the damage and still gain several positions as he found himself in third for the Lap 104 restart. The 20-year-old rookie, along with his No. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS Assurance of Quality team, put together several strong runs, maintaining a solid top-five position for a majority of the Southern 500.
Following a Lap 285 restart from fifth, Elliott made a forward charge, gaining two positions to run third. However, a Lap 280 caution set Elliott back to fifth for the restart and he lost positions throughout the next four runs ultimately crossing the finish line in 10th.
Elliott’s teammate, Kasey Kahne, finished seventh while Jeff Gordon subbing in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 14th. Jimmie Johnson took home a 33rd-place result after an incident forced him to go to the garage area during the race.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule will be at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, Sept. 10. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
Chase Elliott Stats after Darlington
| Ranking | Points | Starts | Poles | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Laps Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 659 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 163 |
2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings (Top 16 after 25 of 36 races)
| Postion | Driver (wins) | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kevin Harvick (2) | 840 |
| 2. | Brad Keselowski (4) | 797 |
| 3. | Joey Logano (1) | 752 |
| 4. | Carl Edwards (2) | 746 |
| 5. | Denny Hamlin (2) | 729 |
| 6. | Kurt Busch (1) | 728 |
| 7. | Kyle Busch (4) | 727 |
| 8. | Martin Truex Jr. (2) | 696 |
| 9. | Matt Kenseth (2) | 669 |
| 10. | Chase Elliott | 659 |
| 11. | Jimmie Johnson (2) | 656 |
| 12. | Austin Dillon | 651 |
| 13. | Jamie McMurray | 642 |
| 14. | Ryan Newman | 635 |
| 15. | Kyle Larson (1) | 621 |
| 16. | Kasey Kahne | 598 |
NAPA: @NAPARacing
Chase Elliott: @ChaseElliott
Hendrick Motorsports: @TeamHendrick
No. 24 Team: @Hendrick24Team
Hendrick Motorsports View All
Founded by Rick Hendrick in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history. At the sport’s premier level, the organization holds the all-time records in every major statistical category, including championships (14), points-paying race victories (308) and laps led (over 80,000). Headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, the team fields four full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driven by 2020 champion Chase Elliott.