Kyle Larson responds to teammate Chase Elliott banging on his door under caution for pit-lane contact, says he ‘understands’ the frustration
Kyle Larson made contact with Chase Elliott on the pit lane during the final stop.
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Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott (Via IMAGO)
Teammate drama isn’t what the drivers should be discussing after a playoff race, and for a championship contender like HMS, it isn’t the best thing. In the final pit stop of the second Cup post-season race at Kansas, Rick Hendrik’s star drivers, Kyle Larsson, and Chase Elliott, exchange unwanted blows on the track.
Larson found himself in a three-wide situation alongside Elliott in the middle and Tyler Reddick on the outside while exiting the pit stop. His effort to squeeze his way in saw him making a small contact with Elliott. The No:9 Chevy got back by banging on his doors soon after. After the race, the drivers discussed the incident while Larson was still in his car.
While talking about the incident in his post-race incident, Larson said that he had no other way to get out of the moment safely as Brad Keselowski was pitting ahead of him while they were getting out of the pit, and a nudge from the RFK Racing driver was the actual instigator for the incident. Larson claims squeezing out of the situation was the best, safest thing he could do.
“We were just, from my vantage point, I knew we were three wide leaving, and I knew – well I didn’t know at the time. The 6 [Keselowski] is pitted in front of us, and I’m just trying to leave as much space as I can,” Larson told Motorsports.com.
“He’s coming out into the lane because the 6, he wants to slow us down. I tried to leave as much space as I could, obviously, I made contact with him [Elliott] but I feel like if I didn’t I was going to clobber the 6 in the right front. Thought the safest bet for all of us was for me to squeeze out a little bit,” Larson added.
In case you missed it: Denny Hamlin breaks down his chaotic contract renewal with Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Larson admits he understands Chase Elliott being mad
Larson pointed out that he understands why his 2020 Cup championship-winning teammate was mad. He hopes that Elliott will understand he did the best he could on the situation after seeing some replays of it. But the No:5 Chevy driver is glad it didn’t result in cars getting damaged.
“I understand why he is mad or was mad in the moment. I hope when he sees the replay, he understands I didn’t have any space, or not much, just inches. So just a bummer but I’m glad neither of us got tore up there, and we could get a good finish,” Larson said.
Both Larson and Elliott secured solid top 10s at the end of the race. Larson finished P4 following a mega fight with Denny Hamlin, while Elliott settled for P6. The No:9 team has just eight races left this season to end the winless streak.
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