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NASCAR Issues: Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are at again
NASCAR Issues: Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are at again
Though Hendrick Motorsports couldn’t figure out a way to win in Dover on Sunday, it had a remarkable race day. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott both finished inside the top-5 after starting from outside the top-20. At the end of the 400 laps on the Monster Mile, Larson retained his lead at the top of the points table and Elliott sat third.
The race began for Larson from 21st place in the #5 Chevrolet Camaro. Refusing to idle around, he found his way into the top 10 as early as Lap 53. He broke into the top 5 on Lap 107 and finished Stage 1 in 5th place. Crew Chief Cliff Daniels made the call to bring Larson to the pit ahead of most others and kickstarted a play that worked out splendidly.
Larson ended up winning Stage 2. From there, a long cat and mouse game went down between him and Denny Hamlin. Courtesy of quicker pit stops, better restarts, and the aero-block advantage, Hamlin managed to pull ahead and stay there. “I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds. Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough to do anything,” Larson said after the race.
Ultimately, he finished as the runner-up, a mere 0.256 seconds behind Hamlin. The result was his second runner-up finish of the year. He led 39 laps throughout the race bringing his 2024 total to 570, highest in the grid. Putting up an almost equal caliber of performance from behind the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro was Chase Elliott.
The 2020 Cup Series champion started his campaign from further behind Larson, in 29th place. He cut open the top-10 on Lap 70 and finished Stage 1 in 9th place. Despite having an early scare when his car hit the wall, the run continued as he maintained a top-10 spot throughout Stage 2. He finished the stage in 5th place after passing Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch, the same spot in which he finished his race.
How did William Byron and Alex Bowman fare in Dover?
Byron started his race in 3rd place. After leading for a brief while in Stage 1, he finished in 2nd place. Midway through Stage 2, he complained of feeling “a little too tight center of (turns) three and four.” Subsequently, he was pitted on Lap 183. Tragedy struck as his car fell off the jack before the stop was complete and he lost significant time on the road.
In the final stage, he got caught in a multi-car incident involving Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, and Zane Smith. The chaos ended his day and he finished in 33rd place. The result ended his five-race top-10 streak. Alex Bowman had a better day than Byron. He started the race from 9th position and finished 8th. He displayed strong speed midway through the race but the balance on his car began taking a hit towards race end.
“It was still a good points day and a step in the right direction,” he said after his fourth straight top-10 finish in Dover. “It’s a little more consistent than we’ve seen, so hopefully we can keep plugging away at it.” The next event on the schedule for Rick Hendrick’s men is at the Kansas Speedway. The 12th race of the ongoing season will go down on May 5.
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A former Ferrari engineer has criticised the decision to bring in Lewis Hamilton and thinks the Brit’s presence will mean “a lot of potential for drama”.
At the age of 40, seven-time Formula 1 champion Hamilton will form a formidable driver partnership with Charles Leclerc. His big switch comes at the expense of Carlos Sainz, who has performed well for the Italian squad but who was axed so they had room for their blockbuster new signing.
But not everyone of a Ferrari persuasion is convinced that it will go well. Ernest Knoors, who spent many years as an engineer at Maranello, specialising in power units, worries that Hamilton’s presence could do more harm than good for a team that is finding its groove under Frederic Vasseur.
“A big name like Hamilton also brings a lot of politics and if politics within Ferrari are not managed well, then there is a lot of potential for drama,” he told Formule1.nl. “Hamilton has the tendency that if things do not work out, he turns his whole car upside down and starts experimenting.
“Ferrari believes very much in the big personalities and will follow him. But Hamilton is just someone you have to guide a little bit and not give the freedom to rebuild the whole car, because then it will go completely wrong. So I do not know if it is such a smart move, but of course it is nice for the sport.”
News of Hamilton’s planned move broke on February 1, coinciding with football’s Transfer Deadline Day. That the back pages of many newspapers were dominated by the decision of Hamilton to swap Mercedes for Ferrari was testament to the magnitude of the announcement.
Sainz was not surprised as he had been informed by his team of the plan ahead of it being made public. But the Spaniard responded well with two victories to date this season and five further appearances on the podium, on the way to what looks likely to be a fifth-placed finish in the championship – two spots and 54 points ahead of Hamilton.
Sainz has signed for Williams next year and, after several years of running at the front of the grid, will focus on his new challenge of helping restore one of the grid’s most historic teams to its former glory. But Knoors believes he should have been kept on by Ferrari instead.
The Dutchman added: “I see Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari more as a PR move. With all due respect, Hamilton is not going to take that Ferrari from P6 to P1. He will get the most out of it, but what Ferrari has to do is make that car faster. And if you make that car faster, you can easily drive at the front with the current line-up.
“Besides, as a team you have to look further on the horizon. If Hamilton becomes champion in the coming years, he and Ferrari will become immortal. But if you want to build a team with talent for the next five years, are you going to build on Hamilton? No, because he will really be finished after two or three years. That is why I would have kept the very strong line-up that Ferrari has now.”
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Chase Elliott had a front-row seat for one of NASCAR’s most bizarre moments of the 2024 Cup Series season. At the start of Stage 2, the pace car dove onto pit road in front of Elliott; however, it was a tad too late. The pace car made contact with the sand barrels at the entry of pit road and caused a red flag for cleanup.
Initially, there was some speculation on the NBC Sports broadcast, even from the No. 9 team, that Elliott made contact with the pace car. Fortunately, the pace car didn’t slide across the No. 9 car’s nose, but it undoubtedly provided one of NASCAR’s craziest red flag moments in recent memory.
Below, you can listen to Elliott and the No. 9 team react to the pace car crashing into the sand barrels on pit road at Phoenix during Championship Weekend!
Reflecting on the recent retirement of 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., Earnhardt didn’t mince words about the toll NASCAR takes on its drivers. Speaking candidly, the two-time Daytona 500 winner admitted that the pressure to perform every week left him feeling miserable for most of his racing career—a sentiment he believes is shared by many of his peers.
“Right or wrong, racing made me a miserable person 90% of the time,” Earnhardt confessed. “And him too. I mean, ask Kyle Busch, ask anybody—unless you’re winning, you’re not happy.”
For these elite drivers, the sport is a relentless grind. A podium finish might bring temporary relief, but anything short of victory is often a source of frustration. The immense effort poured into preparation and execution rarely feels like it pays off unless the checkered flag is theirs.
Earnhardt highlighted the mental toll of falling short, explaining how the relentless focus on winning can overshadow the joy of simply competing. Even a solid performance feels hollow compared to the euphoria of a win.
“Unless you’re winning, you’re not happy at all,” he said. “You’re okay with a good run, but for the most part, all the effort it takes just to run good—it doesn’t weigh out.”
For drivers, the stakes are sky-high every week. Sponsors, fans, and teams demand nothing less than excellence, leaving little room for error or personal satisfaction in anything less than a dominant performance.
Earnhardt also shared insights into his friendship with Martin Truex Jr., who recently announced his retirement. While the two often spend time hunting together during NASCAR’s off-season, Earnhardt noted that the stress of racing even creeps into their leisure activities.
“When I’m with him during hunting season, it’s always in the back of his mind,” Earnhardt said. “It’s that stressful part of the year when he’s as miserable as he’s going to be.”
Now, with Truex stepping away from the track, Earnhardt looks forward to seeing a lighter, happier version of his long-time friend. Without the weight of weekly competition hanging over him, Truex might finally be able to relax and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle he cherishes.
“It’ll be fun to see him loosen up,” Earnhardt added.
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