NASCAR champions Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott set for Rolex 24 exertion
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson alongside recently delegated 2020 series champion, Chase Elliott, look set to participate in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Rick Hendrick, the team owner for the two drivers in NASCAR’s top series, uncovered in Sunday’s post-race press conference at Phoenix International Raceway that Johnson and Elliott will run in the next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener.
Elliott won the Season Finale 500, which was sufficient for him to claim his first Cup Series title, while Johnson, in his last full-season in top-level NASCAR competition — completed fifth in the race.
“Both of our guys, Chase and Jimmie, will be in the 24-hour race [at Daytona], so I’m looking forward to that,” Hendrick told reporters.
While Hendrick later admitted that he may have “jumped the gun” on the news, it’s perceived exertion has been in progress to field a top pick DPi entry, with 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud reputed as a third driver in the exertion.
Every one of the three drivers are Chevrolet-supported pilots, with Pagenaud driving for Team Penske in the NTT IndyCar Series as well as the Michelin Endurance Cup races in Penske’s Acura ARX-05 program, which finds some conclusion one weekend from now at Sebring.
Elliott, then, affirmed to reporters that he’s resolved to race the Rolex 24 yet hasn’t yet marked an agreement.
While the 24-year-old second-generation driver, the son of two-time Daytona 500 winner and former NASCAR champion Bill, would make his sports car racing debut, Johnson has five past beginnings in the Florida perseverance classic, the latest coming in 2011 in a GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Riley-Chevrolet DP.
His best completion came in 2008 with a runner-up overall completion close by co-drivers Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Jimmy Vasser.
Sportscar365 comprehends the planned ‘all-star’ exertion would be in a Cadillac DPi-V.R fielded by Action Express Racing.
It would come close by the team’s returning full-season Cadillac DPi of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in the top prototype class.
AXR team manager Gary Nelson told Sportscar365 in September that he had not precluded running a second entry one year from now in the wake of running a single-car operation for the first time in the team’s history this year.
It’s unclear when an official declaration could be made on the conceivable attempt.
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