Kyle Larson Nominates Chase Elliott as Title Favorite Amidst Beef Between Hendrick Teammates

The top sixteen drivers of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series are all set to give their best shot at season playoffs. The defending champion, Kyle Larson, would be joining the playoff party after struggling through a bad day at Daytona.

To everyone’s surprise, Larson’s engine overheated at the rain-washed Coke Zero Sugar 400 race. Even though the Hendrick Motorsports driver started at pole position in Daytona on Sunday, he couldn’t lead the race for long. 

However, last week, before the unfortunate event at Daytona, Kyle Larson talked about his favorites heading into the playoffs. While talking to Bob Pockrass during a break at the Martinsville test, Larson said that this season has been about survival. 

Further, he said, “I guess if you win (the) championship, you’ve survived and you’re deserving.”

Explaining how the win will iterate that the winning team and not just a driver is best out of all, Larson explained “Chase Elliott who is over 170 points ahead of us could potentially not win… but that doesn’t mean you didn’t have a great season.”

When asked who his favorite driver was, Larson revealed, “I feel like the #9. With the speed that he has every week. With the execution that he and his team put on each week. I would say they are the favorite.” 

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Larson’s answer was appreciated by many because, after the Watkins Glen incident, people didn’t expect him to nominate Chase Elliott.

Elliott, who drives the #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, is currently at the top of the table with 2040 points.

Apart from Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson talked about his other favorites, too.

Kyle Larson opens up about his season favorites

Besides his fellow teammate Elliott, Kyle Larson feels that Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain is a great contender too. He said, “I would say Ross is probably the fastest most weeks. And their team also does a really good job of executing.”  

However, due to Chastain’s bad reputation, Larson stopped to add something. He said with a smile, “But you know there’s all the baggage that comes along with his season so far at this point.”

Talking about his next favorites, Larson believes that the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers are quite tough. Currently, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Busch have entered the playoffs.

Explaining why he likes the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, Larson said, “You can definitely point at the Gibbs drivers. They are all really fast on the intermediate tracks.”

“There’s only one road course in the playoffs and that’s definitely where they struggle. I mean that’s only in the second round, I think. So, I would say they’ll be tough as well.”

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In the end, Larson pointed out that he and his team Hendrick Motorsports too are well capable of winning the championship. Larson, along with Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman will represent Hendrick Motorsports in the 2022 playoffs.