As Hendrick rules, Chase Elliott increasingly finds himself chasing teammate Kyle Larson
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas – Chase Elliott’s third-place finish in the NASCAR All-Star Race marked his fifth consecutive top-three finish in Cup Series competition.
And yet Elliott can’t be totally happy with that stat. Not only does he have "just" one victory in that stretch, but he has also seen his teammates win the rest, including Kyle Larson the last three events.
Watching a teammate win can be tricky because a driver can feel part of the win since the drivers among an organization share information. But it also can be frustrating because a driver knows that the equipment is similar throughout an organization.
"I can’t change the past," Elliott said after his third-place finish to Larson in the All-Star Race. "I’m looking ahead. ... We’ve got some good things going. We’ve just got to be a little better."
In the previous two points races, Elliott had finished runner-up to Larson. Elliott is the defending Cup champion while Larson is thriving in his first year at Hendrick Motorsports after several seasons at Chip Ganassi Racing.
It could be viewed as an internal rivalry in the making. Although that really isn’t Elliott’s style.
"Second is second," Elliott said. "You rather a teammate win if you’re going to finish second, or a friend, one of the two.
"Nonetheless, I’m proud of where we’re at. I’ve been close. I just need to be a little better in a few areas. I think it is totally achievable. So we’ll just keep working at it."
Elliott has a tendency to beat himself up when he loses the lead late, as he did in the All-Star Race – Larson was able to get by him on the final restart where Elliott initially had the lead.
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"I certainly think there’s positive things to look back at," said Elliott crew chief Alan Gustafson said. "I kind of feel like it slipped out of our hands a little bit. I hate that he beats himself up.
"We’ve just got to go work on getting better and figuring how to close those out. ... We need to figure out what we need to do to the car, what we need to give him and how to come out of those situations a bit better."
Gustafson has spent decades at Hendrick, including years with Jeff Gordon when Jimmie Johnson was winning more often. The two are good friends but had their heated moments on the race track.
He knows that having a teammate win is better but none of the four Hendrick teams goes to the track to finish second.
"You want your teammate to win but at the same time, you’re never happy unless you’re winning," Gustafson said.
The good news for Gustafson and Elliott is that the last five weeks have improved on the first 12 of the season, where Elliott managed two top-three finishes.
Elliott said he feels capable of contending weekly and certainly running more solid in the past month than during the first couple months of the 2021 season. His pit crew won the $100,000 bonus at the All-Star Race for the fastest pit stop, a sign that they continue to perform when it matters most.
And his teammates winning show that the company is at the top of its game.
"HMS, as a whole, everybody is pulling in the same direction and just performing at a really high level across the board," Elliott said. "It’s just not one department doing a good job. It’s everyone."
Obviously, Larson has enjoyed the most benefits of the Hendrick surge over the last couple of months as he has established himself as a championship contender.
Larson hasn’t felt any animosity yet from within the Hendrick walls over his success.
"As long as our organization is winning, I'm cool with it, and so far I think we all are, as well," Larson said. "If we can keep running good and working together, all four of us will be hard to beat. So we've just got to keep that up.
"We have talks about it throughout the week, and I think those are great conversations to have and get ahead of things."
At the All-Star Race, Larson, Elliott and William Byron all had a shot to win as they worked together to make sure they were up front for the final restart. Then it was up to the drivers, and Larson made the winning move.
"I enjoy racing with my teammates," Larson said. "We race hard together. I thought we raced great [in the All-Star] to kind of set us up to be up in the front, to give at least three opportunities to win this race going into that final 10 laps.
"I think we've worked well together. Obviously, it's proven, we've all been up front these last month and a half or so."
And that’s what will have Elliott feeling good about the second-place and third-place finishes. He knows with some improvement, he could turn those into wins.
He also knows last year, his own surge over the last two weeks turned him into a Cup champion.
"We’ll try to ride the wave," Elliott said. "Things change as they always do. Hopefully, the wave lasts all season and we can perform like this all year, but the reality is things change. We know that and we’ve got to stay on it and keep getting better."
Thinking Out Loud
NASCAR announced a change to the aero package for Daytona and Talladega, reducing speeds by potentially 10 miles an hour by reducing horsepower from 510 to 450. NASCAR also will remove the wicker bill off the rear spoiler.
The moves were necessary as NASCAR cannot have flips such as the one Joey Logano had last April. The changes won’t eliminate cars getting in the air but the more NASCAR can do to reduce the possibility, the better.
The cars obviously will remain in a tight pack with those slower speeds but there could be potential for less lift-off if they are going slower and more time for drivers to react.
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Stat of Note
Kyle Larson became the fifth different driver to win the All-Star Race for Hendrick Motorsports, joining Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Chase Elliott.
They Said It
"It feels like running second to the Hendrick cars right now is an accomplishment. They are just stupid fast." – Brad Keselowski
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
