From two fast cars blowing up their tires to a tussle between two teammates, the second playoff race at Kansas saw it all. While Chase Elliott is out of the playoffs for the driver’s championship, his number 9 Chevrolet Camaro is still in the rumble in the owner’s championship. Perhaps, he intends to get Mr. Rick Hendrick, his cherished 300th win. However, despite showing great speed at Kansas, the biggest highlight of the 1.5-mile-long race is the Larson-Elliott feud at the exit of the pit road.
As RFK Racing owner Brad Keselowski was exiting the pit road, #9 pilot Kyle Larson was doing the same. In order to not bump into Brad Keselowski, Larson swerved to the right, dooring Chase Elliott, who was right next to him. Elliott was definitely not happy and doored his teammate back. While Larson understood why Elliott got mad, the latter walked up to him to settle things man-to-man.
Bubba Wallace insider hints at Chase Elliott’s patronizing behavior toward the fans
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In a recent episode of Door Bumper Clear, Bubba Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft expressed why he found Chase Elliott’s answer to Bob Pockrass’ question baseless. During a post-race interview, the veteran FOX Sports journalist and reporter asked Elliott what message he tried to send to his teammate through that counter-nudge.
Elliott, however, denied having sent any message. And that is exactly what irked Kraft.
Freddie said, “I don’t know if this is Chase Elliott or this is the NASCAR police not letting these guys speak their mind, but…this is so patronizing to our fans. They’re not stupid. You swerved, you actually ran into him. You hung a hard left, swerved at them, then you ran into him.”
“I get it, you probably cannot say what you really want to say there…you can’t just act like nothing happened,” he claimed.
After all, what Elliott did was very clear to everyone who watched the incident. Kraft admitted, “I hate this for our fans, that they get treated like they’re idiots. We saw what happened there and then Bob asked you a question about it, you gotta have a better answer than, ‘what do you mean? I wasn’t sending any messages there.'”
“Yes, you were! Stop!” he roared.
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Crew member Brett Griffin demanded a WTHR episode featuring Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott to get more clarity on the skirmish. He joked, “Rick Hendrick probably disagrees, He’s gonna have to have a milk and cookies conversation part 2 with these two guys.”
Despite the Rick Hendrick and HMS star Chase Elliott hiding his intention of sending a message, fans are not actually “idiots”
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Chase Elliott slammed a one-sentence reply to Bob Pockrass, “Oh, there was no message, no.”
However, fans did not miss the underlying commotion. One fan breathed sarcasm while typing the following, “So let’s get this straight….No message equals swerving into your teammate that’s running for a championship….It’s clear the 6 car pushed the 5 out wide.” Someone wrote, “I’m thinking that this “message” that he seems to not recall, should have been giving to the 6 since he’s the one that went four wide when there wasn’t enough space. Physics said something had to give.”
Watch this story: Bubba Wallace’s Spotter Uses Historic Charlotte Wreck Reference to Claim Chase Elliott Could Have Killed Denny Hamlin
Meanwhile, another NASCAR enthusiast upped things a notch by making a controversial comment, “He hates being the 3rd spoke in the HMS wheel.” If one winds the clock back to the Wise Power 400 2022, reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson seized his first victory at the Auto Club Speedway. But with just 20 laps to go, Larson was battling Joey Logano for the lead when he made a right swerve and sent his teammate Chase Elliott into the wall and out of the race.
Chase Elliott finished sixth on a solid day. What he said afterward and whether he was sending a message to Kyle Larson after the contact as they were exiting their pits. pic.twitter.com/zodqNJrwIF
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 11, 2023
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Safe to say, there have been several such instances where Larson had rammed into Chase Elliott. Referring to those instances, one of the fans wrote, “When it comes to his teammates, he isn’t going to air it out to the public. I believe with how Kyle has raced his “teammate” the last 2 years, Chase no longer gives him the benefit of doubt”
On that note, a Kyle Larson fan exclaimed, “Chase cant stand the fact Larson is a better driver. He hasn’t been right since Larson won the Championship.” Another wrote, “Chase is becoming more of a head case than Bubba. Passive-aggressive towards his own teammate, and gaslighting reporters and fans, is not a good look for NASCAR’s Golden Boy.”
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Indeed, these controversial demeanors attract the audience more than the races themselves. Given their history of on-track tussles, do you think the Rick Hendrick stars can get past this incident? Let us know in the comments below!