A rivalry, in any sport, is a key ingredient in pushing the product from the core fans to the masses. But unlike back in the day, today there’s a draught of rivalries in NASCAR. So naturally, whenever there’s a sniff of any rivalry, the sport and the community try their best to get the most out of it. This has also been the case for the on-off rivalry between Chase Elliott and his teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson.
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Over the years, there have been a few incidents spread out away from each other between the two. The most recent one came last Sunday at Kansas and the narrative of the Elliott-Larson rivalry, which in all fairness, has the potential to be one of the greatest in the sport’s modern era considering the caliber and brand of the two drivers, was re-ignited again.
However, Elliott recently put a bucket of water and sand on all that ignition.
Chase Elliott clears the Kansas incident with Kyle Larson, admits his mistake
After a week of speculation on his rivalry with Larson, speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio recently, Chase Elliott set the record straight about what happened in Kansas. He explained, “We obviously ran at each other down the pit road and I didn’t have the full picture of what went on so I was frustrated. That stuff happens for sure, but at the end of the day, I’ll certainly take the blame for my frustrations on that front.”
“The good news is he and I can have a conversation like adults and it’s a nonissue. The bad news is it’s a non-issue for all y’all and everybody that wants to talk about it. There’s nothing to talk about. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I know you guys love your job but there’s nothing here this week.”
Elliott insisted that his and Larson’s relationship has “actually been good,” that they had a conversation after the race to get the whole picture, a discussion “like adults.” The #9 driver added that neither he nor Larson cares about what is said about them during the week, and in the end, all they’re focused on and driven by is to better their performance on the track.
.@chaseelliott shares his perspective on the late-race pit road incident with @KyleLarsonRacin at @kansasspeedway ⬇️
🗣️ “I didn’t have the full picture of what went on so I was frustrated […] the good news is he and I can have a conversation like adults and it’s a non-issue.” pic.twitter.com/njpkqZzYlB
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) September 12, 2023
Elliott claims the whole incident got blown out of proportion
After the race at Kansas, there was a moment when Elliott walked over to Larson, who was still in his car and had a few words with him. This looked like a heated discussion between the two teammates. But when asked about what he said to Larson, NASCAR’s most popular driver revealed it wasn’t what it seemed.
“I just asked what happened. He told me what happened, and I said okay. It was really that simple. In my mind, it was done and over with after that,” he said. Elliott added that the whole topic “got taken to a different level” even though he left it there in Kansas.
On the brighter side though, he was glad that at least he could give everyone something to talk about, which his social media team must’ve appreciated as well.
