CONCORD, N.C. - Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott have both taken on one of the world’s crown jewel races, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. While they won’t be competing this weekend, their past experiences were certainly memorable.
Co-driving with IndyCar legend Scott Dixon, Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan and sports car stalwart Marino Franchitti, Larson’s first race in 2014 was a bit of a challenge and the team missed finishing the race, winding up 14th overall. Even after having success in the car, it wasn’t a race where the regular driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was completely comfortable.
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Frowns turned to smiles just a year later, when Larson once again joined Dixon, Kanaan and fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver, Jamie McMurray, for a very different result.
In what was coined the “star car,” the team was very competitive from the get-go, which was punctuated by Larson’s impressive first nighttime stint. Chasing champion sportscar shoe Jordan Taylor, Larson clicked off extremely quick laps and kept the team within four seconds of the race lead at the halfway point.
Despite the team's hiccups in the overnight hours which halted upward progress, Larson's morning stint would prove vital. His efforts on that Sunday morning kept the team in the mix by cutting six seconds from the lead entry. After an impressive run, Larson handed the reins over to Dixon.
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A number of stoppages in the final hours set the stage for a dramatic finish. In a tense seven minute, 30 second back and forth, Dixon brought the car home after completing 740 laps in his more than three-hour final stint, outlasting the trio of sportscar and open-wheel standouts Joao Barbosa, Sebastian Bourdais and Christian Fittipaldi by a mere 1.33 seconds.
“After last year I didn’t want to do this race,” Larson remarked to FOXSports.com. “It was my least favorite race in the world. Now I can’t wait to get back next year.”
Larson was very grateful for the opportunity.
“To win that race and not only get the win for myself but then the watch, you know. Jamie and the emotions he was going through with the Rolex and the Daytona 500, to be on that elite group of drivers, was very special,” Larson said in an EssentiallySports.com story.
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Coming off his rousing 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship, NAPA Auto Parts driver Chase Elliott opened 2021 with a flurry of new racing experiences.
Starting with his first run in the Chili Bowl Nationals run just a few days earlier, the sport’s most popular driver then headed to Daytona Beach, Florida, for his first attempt at the Rolex 24. Joining the Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi race team, Eliott and sports car stars Mike Conway, Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani were quickly noticed as contenders.
“It’s been a lot of fun enjoying the racing,” Elliott told NBC Sports prior to the endurance classic. “I haven’t really spent a winter racing like this since I got to Cup honestly, so it’s been really good to get back in the swing of that. I missed it.”
Adding to the race, seven-time Cup Series championship-winning crew chief Chad Knaus and members of Hendrick Motorsports were on hand to assist. The two-car Action Express operation also received support from Ally.
The weekend started off extremely well too. In a newly minted qualifying race, the No. 31 Cadillac swept its way to the pole. And early on, the team was extremely competitive, staying within striking distance of the lead during the race’s opening stages.
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However, gearbox issues started to crop up as the race hovered around the seven-hour mark, stunting their chance for overall victory. The good news was they did finish the race, placing sixth within the DPi class and eighth overall.
Ultimately, Elliott hopes to compete in the Rolex 24 again one day.
“I’d love to come back and do this event again,” Elliott told Motorsport.com prior to the event. “I don’t think this is one of those things you show up one time and expect to be perfect or at the very best of your game. It takes a little more practice than that.”