While Chase Elliott goes after the NASCAR Cup Series drivers’ title, Kyle Larson will be hunting the owners’ title for Hendrick Motorsports. Neither driver is racing the other, but both must beat Joey Logano (Team Penske), Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing), and Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing) in order to win their respective championships.
It’s a situation that has never played out before with the current playoff format. In fact, there hasn’t been a different drivers’ and owners’ champion at the top level of NASCAR since 1963.
While the drivers’ title is the more coveted and talked about of the two, the owners’ title is where the money goes. Until the final lap at Martinsville, team owner Rick Hendrick was set to have two shots at the owners’ title and one in drivers’, but Chastain changed all that in an instant. His last-lap wall-ride not only eliminated Denny Hamlin from the drivers’ title fight, but also the No. 9 HMS Chevrolet of Elliott from the owners’ battle.
“It looked unreal to me because I thought it was speeding up the footage,” said Hendrick on his reaction to Chastain’s move. “I thought it was the neatest thing I ever saw until I realized he knocked us out of Chase (Elliott) running for the owners’ championship.
“I think that took a lot of guts to do that. I’m not sure it would work out every time. But it was a gutsy move, and he made it work.”
Because of that moment, Larson and Elliott are no longer racing against each other in the owners’ fight, but rather together against the rest of the contenders in both races.
“Well, in an ideal situation is if we could go out and run 1-2 and get them both,” said Hendrick as he looked ahead to Phoenix. “But when Kyle (Larson) got knocked out, I never thought about the owners’ championship at that point, and then he won the race in Homestead and that qualified him.
“Then when Chase (Elliott) was bumped out of being able to run for the owners’ championship, then all of a sudden we’ve got a shot to win it with two cars, win owners’ and drivers’. We’re not going to approach the race any different than we have any week. Both cars are going to try to win. We’ll just go out and do the best we can and see where it all ends up.
“We’re going to try to race to win with both cars. That’s the plan.”
Three in-a-row for HMS?
Larson, for a few more days at least, is the reigning champion of the Cup Series. The year prior in 2020, Elliott was the Cup Series champion. Each of these drivers have been here before, and together they could potentially ensure that HMS retains both the drivers’ and owners’ title for the third consecutive year. But it can only happen if both prevail. It’s a really unique situation worth paying attention to, and their title rivals better hope this duo doesn’t end up in control of the field on Sunday.
Now, it’s been a difficult playoffs for Elliott. He led the standings at the conclusion of the regular season, and without those 15 bonus points, he would have already been eliminated from this title fight. Only twice has he placed higher than 10th in the nine postseason races so far. To win the championship, he’ll have to step it up, but the boss doesn’t appear to be concerned.
“You know, he’s won five races, and he’s had some situations where the car wasn’t as good as we thought it would be, and he was frustrated,” explained Hendrick.
“But it’s one of those deals that just put all that behind you. You run good at Phoenix, you’ve won that race, you’ve won the championship there. So just go back, the car is going to be good and do your job.
“He’s excited. He’s ready. We’ll just put any of the bad luck or inconsistencies we’ve had leading up to this race behind us because it’s all about Sunday.”
Four teams, five drivers, and two championships on the line. Phoenix is almost certainly going to be a standout finale, even in the Championship 4 era of the playoffs.