“It’s Gonna Be Tough for Sure” – Kyle Larson Weighs In on Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman’s NASCAR Playoff Hopes

Heading into Pocono, Hendrick Motorsports are in a peculiar situation. Two of their drivers are in the playoffs and two are out so far. In fact, the first two, William Byron and Kyle Larson have been exceptional this year while the other two, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, just haven’t been able to find their groove, leading to many concluding neither Elliott nor Bowman would make it to the next round of the season.

But if Larson is to be believed, there is still time for the #9 and the #48 team. The 2021 Cup champion recently addressed a question about the vibe at HMS as well as why he believes Elliott and Bowman shouldn’t be counted out from the NASCAR playoffs just yet.

Kyle Larson makes a case for Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman’s playoff chances

After the qualifying session at Pocono, in which Elliott suffered a spin, relegating him to the back of the field for Sunday, Kyle Larson was asked about the vibe at HMS considering the state of their two teams. He said, “I don’t know. I mean, obviously, you know, they’re trying to get best finish possible each week and a win would be nice. I hadn’t really looked at it too much to be honest with you or thought about it a whole lot here lately. But they both have some really good tracks coming up for them.”

“Chase spinning today doesn’t help things, but I feel like Pocono is a great track for them and a lot of times when you start really anywhere here at Pocono, you can find your way to the front easily with strategy. That’s something I feel like Alan (Gustafson) excels at in their team and I wouldn’t count them out for tomorrow. Same with Alex, Blake’s got a lot of experience here winning with Truex,” Larson described.

He continued, “So yeah, obviously it’s getting close to the end of regular season and it looks like they may have to win but like I said, they have some really good tracks coming up, Chase especially, with Watkins Glen, he’ll be the favorite there so we’ll see.”

“It’s gonna be tough for sure, but I know they can come through it.”

Larson predicts Shane van Gisbergen will be good at INDY

Later in the interview, Larson was asked about his thoughts on Shane van Gisbergen’s return to NASCAR, as it was recently announced that the Kiwi will be coming back for his second race in NASCAR after he won in his first at Chicago.

Larson was asked whether he thinks SVG will be just as dominant at the INDY road course, to which he replied, “I would not expect him to do that. I think he’s going to be really good.”

“I don’t know how I’ll compare, if I’ll be any better at INDY than I was at Chicago, I would hope so but I feel like I was pretty good at Chicago. But I think at INDY, guys like Reddick, AJ, good road racers that have been good.”

In fact, Larson also mentioned his teammate in need of a win, Chase Elliott who can be a contender at INDY, and be closer to SVG than he was at Chicago.