In a rare off-weekend from his full-time duties as a NASCAR XFINITY Series driver, Chase Elliott finished second in his return to Super Late Model competition and first in the CARS Tour on Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Despite having the fastest car at the end of the race, the future driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet just ran out of time in his efforts to chase down eventual winner William Byron for the win.

“I thought it was fine,” Elliott said of his first experience at a CARS Tour show. “They had a good group of cars with good drivers. I think we put on a good show.”

Usually an exceptional qualifier, Elliott could only muster the 11th fastest lap in time trials and had to methodically work his way through the field throughout the 125-lap event. The race ended with a 92-lap green flag run and Elliott outside of the top-5 and he just didn’t have the time needed to catch and pass Byron at the .363-mile bullring.

“Well, it was definitely hard to pass,” Elliott said. “The track gets slick. It’s hot and greasy but that’s short track racing. So this was definitely fun for me. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t having fun, that’s for sure.”

READ MORE: Late Model Stock Recap and Results

Elliott plans to run a decent number of Super Late Model races this season before his schedule becomes considerably more hectic next year with his full-time graduation to the Sprint Cup Series. He is also looking to turn his No. 9 Super Late Model team into a development program for funded and talented young drivers.

The team is spearheaded by veteran crew chief and former Snowball Derby winning driver Ricky Turner.

“I started racing out this the same shop about 6 years ago with these same solid group of guys. I have learned a ton about racing with this same experience that we are now offering, and truly feel this is a great way to get started,” Elliott said back in January. “Some of the best racing around happens on these tracks and to be able to be surround by this veteran group, with Ricky Turner and the guys, I feel like it is a fantastic learning opportunity for a racer.”

“I will continue to run a hand full of races out of the same shop,” says Elliott. “I won’t be able to short track race a ton, but I have always wanted to do this and keep the guys that I have an awful lot of trust in around at the shop. I really feel like we can provide a top notch team and effort.”