Multi-Car Incident Foils Race for Chase Elliott at Daytona
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports, finished 32nd after a multi-car incident not of his own fault in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway Saturday evening.
Elliott endured another tough outing at the Florida superspeedway this year in what has been an otherwise exceptional season for the rookie driver. After starting in the 24th spot, Elliott fell outside the top 30 in the first 10 laps of the race, but quickly found his groove and by Lap 52 Elliott cracked the top 10 racing as high as fourth on Lap 70.
Twenty laps later, an incident involving 22 cars sent Elliott to the garage for timely repairs. He rejoined the field at Lap 132 and the team employed a survival mentality for the remainder of the event ultimately placing 32nd when the checkered flag waved.
“Unfortunately we were getting in the corner, and obviously, everything is going to go straight at that point,” Elliott said following the incident. “I hate it. I had such a good car tonight. I felt like by far that was the best-ever plate car I have ever had at either Daytona or Talladega. So, really proud of that.”
Elliott’s teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., led the four-car Hendrick Motorsports contingent to the checkered flag finishing 21st. Kasey Kahne finished 30th and Jimmie Johnson took home a 35th-place result.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule will be at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday, July 9th. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
Chase Elliott 2016 Stats after Daytona (July race)
| Ranking | Points | Starts | Poles | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Laps Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 482 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 118 |
2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings (Top 16 after 17 of 36 races)
| Postion | Driver (wins) | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kevin Harvick (1) | 565 |
| 2. | Brad Keselowski (3) | 551 |
| 3. | Kurt Busch (1) | 545 |
| 4. | Joey Logano (1) | 531 |
| 5. | Carl Edwards (2) | 527 |
| 6. | Kyle Busch (3) | 492 |
| 7. | Martin Truex Jr. (1) | 482 |
| 8. | Chase Elliott | 482 |
| 9. | Jimmie Johnson (2) | 475 |
| 10. | Denny Hamlin (1) | 446 |
| 11. | Matt Kenseth (1) | 443 |
| 12. | Austin Dillon | 434 |
| 13. | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 433 |
| 14. | Ryan Newman | 425 |
| 15. | Ryan Blaney | 409 |
| 16. | Jamie McMurray | 405 |
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.