“I think the field knows that we could win at any track.” Kyle Larson was brimming with self-confidence at the Charlotte Roval on Sunday, even while fending off, road course ace Shane van Gisbergen. He translated that into his 6th win this season, double that of his closest playoff rivals. This extraordinary approach to shine through was reflected across Hendrick Motorsports, and Chase Elliott could not be more proud.

All four drivers gathered significant points throughout the Bank of America Roval 400. William Byron had already advanced to the Round of 8 on points, while Kyle Larson stamped himself a place comfortably with his second Roval victory. Only Elliott was at risk, but even he sliced off his points gap and made it through. Despite one discrepancy, Elliott exuded pride.

Chase Elliott tips his hat to HMS

Hendrick Motorsports has been at the top of its game since the beginning of 2024. Wins seem like picking cherries in a garden for this team’s drivers – and Kyle Larson did so while pursuing his Double dreams in May. Chase Elliott rubbed off on Larson and Byron’s winning spree and broke his 2023 misfortune with a win at Texas. The 19-time Cup-winning driver kept up consistent finishes throughout with the help of his No. 9 Chevy team. And they helped him maneuver the tricky turns of the revamped Charlotte Roval on Sunday.

By the end of the Bank of America Roval 400, at first, all four Hendrick drivers made it into the playoffs. Although post-race, Alex Bowman was DQ’ed after failing post-race weight, Chase Elliott was proud to be part of the winning bandwagon anyway. “Everybody’s been doing a great job all year. I feel like everybody’s paddling the ship in the same direction. And it shows…I’m proud to be part of it. I’m proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports – top to bottom. There’s a lot of effort that goes into it and achieving like that…I’m really proud. I’ve always said, you get to this Round of 8, it’s really anybody’s ballgame.”

Race winner Kyle Larson also echoed Chase Elliott’s bubbly emotions. Leading 62 of 109 laps and fending off a hard-charging Christopher Bell and Shane van Gisbergen, Larson made the entire HMS family proud. He admitted that makes him happy: “All the families and mechanics and all that, a lot of them are here today. It just makes it really great when you can win here, and everybody sacrifices so much time away from their families. So, when they get to bring their wives and kids to the racetrack and then you get lucky enough to win that day and get to have those photos and those memories forever, it’s great.”

Chase Elliott could share in this collective rejoicing as he maintained his playoff spot in a tough race.

The No. 9 did what it did best

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The Most Popular Driver’s resurgence since last year has been phenomenal. Chase Elliott missed the playoffs last year due to physical injury and penalties. But he is making sure to seize 2024 by the reins this year, as he storms through the playoffs. Entering the Charlotte Roval, the No. 9 driver had a 13-point cushion over the elimination cutline. Yet he managed to pile up 15 valuable playoff points and finished off the day with a fifth-place run. Elliott will have some work as the Round of 8 begins since he needs to slice off 9 points below the cutline. But for now, he is basking in his Roval success.

Being the only driver to have won multiple times at the Roval before Larson, Elliott knew what he was doing. He patted himself on the back for his fantastic run – “I can’t complain – really really proud of our effort. We put ourselves in really bad positions there to have a good result. But we had to get those stage points when we could…Ultimately, fending the 22 – he was always right there in front of me until the very end. So yeah, we did what we had to do there. But truthfully, to get back to the top five, I was really proud of that effort. For as bad as we set ourselves back at the end of each stage, I thought that was pretty solid.”

Evidently, the HMS fold is thunderously cheering for its drivers – except for maybe Alex Bowman. Let us wait and see how Chase Elliott fares in the following three races.