Two times Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller apologizes to Chase Elliott for ‘supposedly’ costing him the win at Indy

Mike Rockenfeller replaced Noah Gregson in the No:42 car.

Two times Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller apologizes to Chase Elliott for ‘supposedly’ costing him the win at Indy

Chase Elliott confronting Mike Rockenfeller after the Indy race (Credits: MattWeaverRA/Twitter)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Two times 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning driver Mike Rockenfeller has come forth to apologize for supposedly costing Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott valuable seconds he could have used to close the gap on eventual race winner Michael McDowell. While the FRM driver secured his spot in the playoffs with his first Next-Gen era win, the Chevy driver’s desperation for a win continues.

Rockenfeller, who drove the NASCAR Garage 56 entry in this year’s Le Mans race with Jimmie Johnson, got the opportunity to make his first Cup start of 2023, replacing Noah Gragson in the LMC car. The team released the No:42 driver following a social media controversy, and the WEC driver will also drive the Legacy MC car next week at Watkins Glen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gctl_ik3Cs&pp=ygURTWlrZSBSb2NrZW5mZWxsZXI%3D

After the race, Rockenfeller talked to Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut and opened up about the incident, and about Elliott later confronting him.  He said that he apologized to the No:9 Camaro ZL1 driver. The Sportscar driver said his fight with this season’s Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for positions might have held him up in pursuit of catching up with the Ford.

“I had a word with Chase, he was not super happy…I tried not to keep everybody up (during the race). I was fighting with the 47…sorry for that.  I apologize if I cost him maybe a second or so there in the race,” Rockenfeller said.

In case you missed it: WATCH: “This physically hurts my heart, road course king my a**”- Fans react as Chase Elliott looks heart-broken after a runner-up finish at Indy 

Mike Rockenfeller messed up the pit-stop

Mike Rockenfeller (Credits: @LegacyMotorclub/Twitter)
Mike Rockenfeller (Credits: @LegacyMotorclub/Twitter)

The Legacy MC driver didn’t have the best day at the track, which was no surprise considering the car he has, has been a backmarker the whole season. Gregson couldn’t score a single top-ten finish with the car the entire season, and most of his finishes were outside the top 30.

The pit-stop mishaps also didn’t help the driver. He speeded in the pit lane and was given a drive-through penalty. But despite all the negativities, the veteran driver feels he had a decent day. The No:42 driver said, “I made a little mistake on pit lane, big time actually, I blew through the lights. We got a drive-through. We didn’t have the best time, but I thought we were decent.”

Discover: