News that was accidentally leaked out in November was formally announced Friday. Chase Elliott will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 in January at Daytona International Speedway.
Elliott will be teamed with Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani and Mike Conway in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R in his first Rolex 24.
“The Rolex 24 is such a major event, and it’s a race that anybody across any type of motorsports really respects,” Elliott said in a team release. “I think everyone wants to win a watch before their career is over. It’s something different and a completely different element of racing that I haven’t really tried before. I’m trying to branch out and be more diverse as a driver and this is another part of that experience. I appreciate Action Express giving me this opportunity and I am looking forward to learning and running my first Rolex 24 next month.”
Elliott’s team owner Rick Hendrick accidently let the news slip that Elliott would be running in the Rolex in November hours after Elliott won the 2020 NASCAR Cup championship at Phoenix.
Five of Elliott’s 11 career Cup wins were on road courses, two this past season and his only Camping World Truck Series win came on the road course at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
“Recently we were able to spend a day with Chase in the simulator, running the Dallara, Cadillac model on the Daytona Road Course,” said Gary Nelson, Action Express Racing team manager, in the release. “We were amazed at how quick Chase got up to speed, his feedback, and how easy he was to work with. We are very excited to work with him again next month in Daytona at the Roar and the Rolex 24.”
The 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season will kick off with the traditional Roar Before the 24 on Jan. 22-24 at Daytona International Speedway and with the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona taking place the following weekend, Jan. 29-31.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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