Chase Elliott Records Career-Best Result in Irish Hills
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports, earned his career-best result – a second place finish – in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway Sunday afternoon.
Leading his teammates to the green flag in 10th, Elliott briefly fell outside of the top 10 due to a tight-handling condition, but raced his way back in by Lap 30. Just over 30 laps later Elliott found the runner-up position. Elliott maintained a presence in the top-five for the remainder of the race
On a restart with 83 laps remaining, Elliott raced out to the lead. He led 35 laps, the second-most laps led of the day, before losing the lead on a restart – though he moved back to second on another restart with 40 laps remaining. He was able to maintain that position as the checkered flag waved.
For the second consecutive week, Elliott led laps and a win looked within reach. While the trip to Victory Lane eluded him in the Irish Hills, he took home his best career finish of second place as well as his eleventh top-10 finish of the year.
“The guys gave me a fantastic car today,” Elliott said. “This whole NAPA group has been working so hard these past few weeks.”
Elliott led the four-car Hendrick Motorsports contingent to the checkered flag with his second-place effort followed by Kasey Kahne in 13th. Jimmie Johnson finished 16th and Dale Earnhardt took home a 39th-place result.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule will be at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 26th. The event begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with live coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
Chase Elliott 2016 Stats after Michigan (June race)
| Ranking | Points | Starts | Poles | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Laps Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 453 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 118 |
2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings (Top 16 after 15 of 36 races)
| Postion | Driver (wins) | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kevin Harvick (1) | 526 |
| 2. | Kurt Busch (1) | 496 |
| 3. | Brad Keselowski (2) | 480 |
| 4. | Carl Edwards (2) | 472 |
| 5. | Joey Logano (1) | 455 |
| 6. | Chase Elliott | 453 |
| 7. | Jimmie Johnson (2) | 441 |
| 8. | Martin Truex Jr. (1) | 433 |
| 9. | Kyle Busch (3) | 417 |
| 10. | Matt Kenseth (1) | 409 |
| 11. | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 383 |
| 12. | Austin Dillon | 381 |
| 13. | Denny Hamlin (1) | 380 |
| 14. | Jamie McMurray | 374 |
| 15. | Ryan Newman | 369 |
| 16. | Ryan Blaney | 364 |
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.