After their late-race contact at Watkins Glen, will Chase Elliott pay back Kyle Larson? -Davis M., Fargo, N.D.
Absolutely not! They’re teammates. Rick Hendrick won’t let them.
That’s what makes this so much fun.
While Kyle Larson hasn’t had the 10-win monster of a season he had in 2021, he’s still second in regular-season points and could very well be lifting the championship trophy by November. The fact remains, however, that both of his wins have come after late-race contact with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, 2022 regular-season champion and this season’s only four-time winner, Chase Elliott, most recently on a restart with five laps to go at Watkins Glen International.
Everything changed on this restart. pic.twitter.com/TAVg0kek8r
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 22, 2022
Now, it is tough to assess the temperature inside HMS at the moment. Post-race, Elliott offered tight-lipped props:
“Huge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the [No.] 5 team,” he said. “Congratulations to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports.”
Perhaps indicating some time spent at the Kyle Busch school of passive aggression, nobody who heard that line had any doubt what Elliott really meant.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall during Monday morning’s Hendrick competition meeting, the meeting Larson told Bob Pockrass he “took most of it in.”
Kyle Larson said the Hendrick Motorsports competition meeting was productive yesterday. He said he did more listening than talking. Larson: “In the end, I probably should have a little bit more respect next time.” pic.twitter.com/nQLcyOlBN1
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) August 23, 2022
“In the end, I probably should have more respect next time,” concluded the 2021 champion.
Will he stick to that resolution? Will Elliott show him the same respect? Who’s to say! All I know is I’ll be paying very close attention.
Like the simmering undercurrent of Ross Chastain vs. the world, the 2022 season has treated us to longer-term rivalries than we’ve seen in a while. Elliott vs. Kevin Harvick, last year’s headline-stealer, lasted only four weeks between the Bristol Night Race and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
It started at @BMSUpdates. It ended at @CLTMotorSpdwy.
Chase Elliott & Kevin Harvick’s on-track feud ended with Harvick in the wall at the ROVAL, and Elliott wishing him a “merry off-season” as Elliott advanced in the playoffs while Harvick was eliminated. pic.twitter.com/DR3kltqeVT
— NASCAR…
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