Kyle Larson wins at Bristol with a little help from teammate Chase Elliott
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson knows it’s good to have a fast car. And it’s also good to have teammates who have fast cars.
Larson won for the sixth time this year after teammate Chase Elliott — two laps down — ran Kevin Harvick’s preferred groove in front of Harvick, allowing Larson to catch and pass Harvick to capture the win Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Elliott’s move was in response to what he thought was unnecessary contact with Harvick that gave him a flat tire, costing him a shot at the win.
Elliott and Harvick exchanged heated words on pit road, with some shoves but no punches thrown.
While they were both upset, Larson was all smiles following his sixth victory of the season.
"It was an awesome race. … It is special to win here," Larson said. "It definitely worked out in my favor that I had [a] teammate upset with him. But I don’t necessarily think he was blocking him, but he was making it hard on him to get by.
"He wasn’t going to let him go."
The race eliminated four drivers from championship contention: Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell.
Three takeaways from Bristol:
1. Harvick-Elliott heat
Larson said Harvick seemed unsure of where to go as Elliott was taking away his line.
"He didn’t ever commit to a line," Larson said. "I watched him start spinning his tires off the corners, missing his lines and stuff and getting his tires hot.
"I was like, ‘OK, maybe I have a shot here.’ … I just put a couple of good corners together and was able to squeak by him."
As Larson won, Harvick and Elliott fumed over the end of the race. Both drivers had already clinched spots in the next round, but both desperately wanted the win, as Harvick has not won this year (and sits last among the 12 drivers after the reset in the standings for the quarterfinal round) and Elliott’s two victories came on road courses.
"It's something he does all the time," Elliott said. "He runs into your left side constantly at other tracks. Sometimes it does cut down your left side. Other times it doesn't.
"He did it to me in Darlington a few weeks ago because he was tired of racing me. Whether he did it on purpose doesn't matter. At some point, you have to draw a line."
Harvick said he was "ready to rip somebody’s head off" after the race. The two drivers talked inside Elliott’s hauler afterward, but Harvick was still upset and indicated that he doubted Elliott’s reasoning that he raced that way because of a history of contact between the two drivers.
"It was kind of a chicken s--- move that he did there at the end," Harvick said. "We’re racing for the frickin' win at Bristol.
"We’re three-wide in the middle, and he throws a temper tantrum, like I was just trying to get the lead and race him hard. Then he pulls up in front of me and just sits there until I lose the whole lead."
Elliott said he couldn’t hear what Harvick was telling him at the car, as Harvick kept his helmet on.
"I couldn’t hear him," Elliott said. "He had his helmet on and stuff. I’m 25. I, at least, took my helmet off to, at least, to have a conversation with him, and he’s 40-however years old. Nothing new."
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2. Hendrick, Gibbs advance all four
Both Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing put all four of their drivers into the Round of 12, the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.
William Byron, who entered the race 18 points behind the cutline, finished third. Alex Bowman, who entered tied for the final spot, finished fifth and was able to advance. Byron was the last driver to make it on points, finishing two points ahead of Almirola (18th) and Reddick (12th) and six points ahead of Busch (19th).
"I just felt like we’ve got to get the best result we can," Byron said. "All of a sudden, we’re in the top five and felt like we were even close to winning the race. I had to be smart and aggressive to kind of hold off the guys behind me.
"It was just a crazy kind of Game 7-type feeling. Those last 50 laps, I didn’t breathe."
Bowman was relieved that Byron advanced, as it was Bowman's mistake, when he crashed into the wall at Darlington, that caused damage to Byron’s car. That crash put them both in a position where they had to rally over the final two races of the three-race opening round.
"My mistake at Darlington kind of put us in this box — us and the No. 24 [of Byron]," Bowman said. "I’m really glad the No. 24 made it because if they wouldn’t have. That would have been on me, too."
The 12 remaining playoff drivers come from four organizations: Hendrick (Larson, Bowman, Byron, Elliott), Joe Gibbs Racing (Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell), Team Penske (Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano) and Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick).
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3. Almirola comeback for naught
Almirola thought he had rallied from a leak in an oil line that cost him several positions after a lengthy pit stop for repairs early in the race.
But he stayed out on old tires after the second stage, and he fell back too far to rally again.
"It was frustrating," Almirola said. "I’m disappointed to have it end like that just because we had battled so much adversity throughout the night, got into a position where we were running top-10, doing what we were needing to do."
Almirola entered the race three points ahead of Bowman and Kurt Busch. While Bowman had a strong night, Busch battled a loose condition, finished a lap down, and never was a factor.
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!