The battle for the 2024 Cup Series regular-season championship is all the heat right now with five more races left to go. Hendrick Motorsports star driver Chase Elliott leads the table with 703 points as teammate Kyle Larson follows in second place, three points behind. The cat-and-mouse game between the duo continues to make people wonder if any tension has risen within the team.
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The drivers, however, continue to quell such thoughts. Larson reiterated in a recent interview with Bob Pockrass that all is well within Hendrick Motorsports and the competition between him and Elliott is only productive. He said, “I feel like our teams work really well together. All the teammates, drivers, and employees have great communication in meetings and stuff.”
Chase Elliot and Kyle Larson are 1-2 in the Cup standings. Is battling a teammate for the regular-season title any different than battling for a championship? Larson says not really, that it requires him to be on top of his game (and they have had some inconsistency lately). pic.twitter.com/WWooVYPRTy
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 18, 2024
He believes that this flow of words between members is important for a team that’s looking to grow continually. He added that the synergy has always been there since he signed up to race for Rick Hendrick in 2021. Elliott expressed opinions on similar lines to Larson’s. He told the press in New Hampshire last month, “Kyle and I raced for a championship a couple of times. I can say with a lot of confidence that our meetings have never changed.”
He continued to talk about how the setups and technical information were all open books across the four teams and that each could do what they would with it. Parallel stands from the duo have removed any doubt of friction. Team owner Rick Hendrick will be glad with any of them grabbing the 15 playoff points that come with being a regular season champion.
The intense competition to be the regular-season champion
Continuing his interview with Pockrass, Larson underlined how it might not be him or Elliott who wins the regular season championship at the end of the day.
He quipped, “William is not too far out of it. I think it is cool. It means your team is doing a good job. You have [Tyler] Reddick and Denny [Hamlin] in there as well. It’s extremely tight at the top and I don’t know when it was this tight last.”
The tough competition has made him realize that his No. 5 team needs to start overcoming its inconsistency to have a shot at staying ahead of the others. Larson’s next shot at taking his spot back at the top will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Sunday.
