Larson and Elliott Come Up Short of Victory and Championship 4 Berth

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Hendrick Motorsports and Martinsville Speedway have gone together like glue over the past 40 years. A lot of highs and lows have happened, and Sunday’s Xfinity 500 was no different.

While one Hendrick car will fight for a championship at Phoenix Raceway, the other two who were in the Round of 8 will not. Those who ended up with the short straw were Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

Neither former champion will be a part of the Arizona pageantry after their Championship 4 bids were dashed for not winning the race nor collecting the amount of points necessary to advance.

Both drivers endured an up-and-down 500-lap race with Elliott overcoming a slow pit stop early and sustaining damage after a tangle with Chris Buescher. Despite the setbacks, Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet was competitive, leading five times for 129 laps.

Larson ran consistently strong in the top-10 and had his time towards the front in the final stage, leading 71 consecutive laps. Even wowing people after sliding onto pit road and not running into the back of Erik Jones that could’ve spelt disaster.

However, Larson’s lead evaporated with 25 laps remaining when Elliott, who went with a different pit strategy, caught his teammate and took the lead. The pass meant Elliott would have a chance at the championship whereas Larson was out of title contention if he wasn’t leading.

Larson would never match his pace and finished third, delaying his chance at a second title once again. Despite being eliminated, Larson was proud of the efforts and resiliencies made all throughout the Round of 8.

“This whole Round of Eight has been a fight, really. From the first stage at Las Vegas on, it’s been a fight. I feel like we made the right pit call to give ourselves the best opportunity,” said Larson. “I’m proud of my team; the car, the pit crew, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. We just didn’t have enough.”

Elliott’s moment in the sun had to be earned as Ryan Blaney entered the fray for the top spot, knowing a win will get him in the Championship 4 over the Hendrick duo. With 14 laps remaining, it was game over for the Fall 2020 winner as Blaney out muscled Elliott on the bottom groove and went on his merry way to a second straight Fall victory and a shot at retaining the Cup title.

All Elliott could do is watch the No. 12 Discount Tire Ford win by 2.593 seconds and like Larson, a second Cup title won’t be on the cards in 2024.

Elliott explained the strategy was the right call, but mistakes got in the way of fully thriving at Martinsville.

“It got us right there in the mix and we had an opportunity. I just made a couple mistakes there past halfway and got some damage on our car. I think that hurt a little bit,” said Elliott. “Just little things started stacking up. I was pushing really hard trying to get to the No. 5 (Larson). I just felt like Ryan had been really good.

“I was scared to give him an opportunity to get to the No. 5 first. I just really wanted to try to get the lead. And then you never know, maybe a caution comes out or something. It just didn’t work out for us. We’ll go to Phoenix and try to put together a good weekend.”

Hendrick will only have William Byron, who crossed the line in sixth that came with controversy, as their lone torch bearer at Phoenix. Such outcome was a result of Christopher Bell being bopped with a safety violation penalty after wall riding in Turns 3-4 following a pass on Bubba Wallace for 18th.

Following Bell’s penalty, Larson’s Playoff continuation ended up seven points shy of Byron while Elliott finished last out of the Round of 8 competitors, 44 points below Byron.

A chance at HMS bringing home a 15th Cup title are still alive, but it won’t come at the hands of former series champions Elliott and Larson next Sunday (3pm ET on NBC).