Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson from Hendrick Motorsports are leading the charge to contest for the regular-season championship title. Although Larson has multiple wins so far, it is Elliott who holds the top spot in the points standings.

Now, clinching the regular-season championship has its perks. The biggest of them is the 15 bonus playoff points, so while the two drivers are teammates, they could turn on each other during the race. In all fairness, that’s how NASCAR racing has always been. However, there’s no tension or rivalry in a real sense between Elliott and Larson, according to Jeff Gordon. Rather, he believes that all their drivers have been working in tandem more than ever this season.

Hendrick Motorsports doesn’t mind a competitive edge between their drivers

The only instance where HMS drivers competed for a last-lap win came at the Daytona 500. William Byron managed to steal a win against his teammate Alex Bowman that day. However, with the knockouts now closing in, the dynamics of racing might change, and drivers may start to look out for themselves.

With Chase Elliott in the advantageous position and Larson breathing down his neck with just three points, the regular-season championship race is all but done. While people looking from the outside might see a brewing rivalry between the two, that’s not the case according to Gordon.

Ahead of the Brickyard 400 race, the vice chairman of HMS shared the dynamics of the drivers on the team. “I’ve seen our teams communicating and sharing information and working together more this year than I ever have. Just to me, it feels like because all the teams are having success, and all the teams are seeing the benefits of that amount of communication going back and forth.”

However, he shared that they do not expect the drivers to hold back in case they find themselves battling for a win on the racetrack. “I think it’s pretty clear at Hendrick how we expect teams and drivers to race against one another … We want to go race and race hard, but we want to come out the other end in one piece, and may the best team and the best driver get that regular season championship,” Gordon concluded.

It has to be noted that it’s not just the HMS driver in the running for the regular-season championship. With all the talks surrounding the HMS stars, this might allow someone from the Toyota camp to sneak a big result for them, bagging the all-important 15 bonus points.

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Tyler Reddick is quietly making his moves

The 23XI Racing driver has not yet found himself at the top of the standings so far in the 2024 season. But with five races to go in the regular season, he might just steal the crown for himself. The No. 45 Toyota is placed third in the standings and is just 15 points behind the leader, Chase Elliott. Having won a single race at Talladega, Reddick has found extra gear, competing for wins every week.

If we exclude his results at Iowa, he has four top 5 and three top 10 finishes in the last eight races. And clearly, he is giving the JGR Toyotas a run for their money, given that 23XI Racing depends on them in a technical alliance. He has also secured himself a pole position for the oval race at Brickyard, which would put him in a spot to overtake the new points leaders.

So keep an eye out for Tyler Reddick, as he might prove to be the biggest surprise package of the 2024 season.