DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Chase Elliott's first Daytona 500 started in first place, with the first three laps led in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. But he established another first he wished he hadn't -- the first yellow flag.
Elliott completed 18 laps Sunday before his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet was taken to the garage with heavy front end damage, the result of a Turn 4 spin and nose-dive into the infield grass on the Daytona International Speedway frontstraight.
The 20-year-old Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate had just radioed his crew a few laps before to report his car's tight handling characteristics. The understeer condition was a common lament among his competitors in the early going on the warmest day of 2016's Speedweeks.
"Too early to tell," Elliott said after an evaluation at the 2.5-mile track's infield care center. "I think a lot of guys were fighting tight off there, but that was just normal. I think it's just hot and tires were giving up a little bit as time went on, but I don't think that was the cause of what happened."
Elliott led the first three laps as the race's youngest pole position winner before giving way to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. But he dropped back further from there, finding himself in a mid-pack thicket of cars.
Just a handful of laps after Kevin Harvick made a big bobble and save off the Turn 4 banking, Elliott followed suit but with more consequence. His No. 24 looped onto the apron asphalt, but dug into the infield grass, crumpling the front-end sheet metal and damaging the radiator.
"We've had a real fast car all week. I just hate it ended so soon," Elliott said. "Just try to get back out there, make some laps and more importantly, get ready for Atlanta."
After hasty repairs, Elliott returned to the race with 59 of the 200 scheduled laps on the scoreboard. Sitting 40 laps off the pace, out of contention in the Great American Race, the rookie's sights were already turned toward the second Sprint Cup race of the season, next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"That is the most important thing now," Elliott said. "Can't get caught up in what happened today. It is irrelevant now."
Elliott was scored in 37th place in the final leaderboard.