It was quite a weekend for Hendrick Motorsports when Chase Elliott clinched the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship and Kyle Larson picked up the win at the Go Bowling at The Glen race in Watkins Glen, N.Y. However, Larson’s move to pass Elliott in the final laps caused a lot of consternation between the two teammates and now the race winner is taking responsibility for it.
Elliott had been leading for much of the race until Larson came off a restart with only a few laps left and overtook his teammate, while also holding off A.J. Allmendinger, to pick up the NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Now, it's @KyleLarsonRacin who gets through to the lead!
Less than five to go at @WGI! pic.twitter.com/znvgJA97Aj
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 21, 2022
Afterward, Elliott appeared pretty upset by the way Larson went about the pass, though he was congratulatory when asked about it.
Chase Elliott does not appear to be a happy person at the moment. pic.twitter.com/9G9q2jsZUH
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) August 21, 2022
Apparently, there was a Hendrick competition meeting on Monday to discuss the simmering issues between the two drivers. Larson told reporters that the meeting was “positive” and “constructive.”
“We all had an open conversation in the competition meeting,” Larson said on Tuesday. “It was positive, it was definitely constructive and it was good to have those talks.”
“One thing’s for sure, we all like to win,” added Larson. “We try really hard to do that. In the end, probably should have a little bit more respect next time…I think you always have to look out for the organization and what’s best for everybody as a whole. I wish things would have played out differently and Monday would have been a lot better for me.”
#NASCAR … Kyle Larson on how the competition meeting at Hendrick Motorsports went Monday. pic.twitter.com/rhkO0XcqgX
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) August 23, 2022
The good news for the Hendrick Motorsports duo is that they’re No. 1 and No. 2 in the standings with one race left to go.
