While battling for the lead late in last weekend’s event, Elliott tried to take a run three-wide to the outside on the frontstretch. Larson blocked and Elliott ended up in the outside wall, ultimately finishing 26th while Larson won.
The reigning series champion was adamant that he did not try to run his teammate into the wall, saying that he didn’t even realize he was up there. Audio showed that the spotter call to Larson regarding Elliott’s aggressive move may have come a bit too late, and No. 5 spotter Tyler Monn took full responsibility for the collision.
During the week, the two teammates talked about what went down in the closing laps. Team owner Rick Hendrick, who once famously smoothed over a rift between seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson and then-crew chief Chad Knaus, organized the meeting.
“I got to talk to him and we got to go over what happened from each of our vantage points,.” said Larson. “It was good to have a conversation and good to hopefully move along from it. It went well; honestly better than I anticipated. He’s a great teammate and I’m going to do my part to be a great teammate each and every week. Hopefully we never have any incidents happen again like what happened last week.”
Larson believes they came to an understanding, adding: “I felt like he was (understanding). I was encouraged by that. Like I said, he’s always been a great teammate. We’re both young and we’re both going to be fighting for wins together. So, hopefully nothing like that happens again.”