Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson discuss relationship after Iowa incident – Motorsport – Sports

Cooler heads have seemingly prevailed after former NASCAR Cup Series champions and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott clashed on track during the recent Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol. This revelation came during a weekend dominated once again by road course king Shane van Gisbergen as he won Go Bowling At The Glen.

The pair clashed on a couple of occasions during Stage 2 at Iowa Speedway, including a side-to-side shunt as Elliott attempted to force his way through the middle as they went three wide following a restart on lap 209, pushing Larson high and wide up the banking. Larson instantly made his feelings clear over his team radio, before making an admission ahead of the next race. 

Fast forward to lap 251, and Larson found himself being shoved up high once again, this time by Christopher Bell in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as they fought door to door for sixth, with Elliott ahead in third. 

“How much ——- room do I have to leave people?” Larson asked via his radio. “I’ve been trying to be good — a good teammate, I’m trying to be a good competitor and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere the last hour.”

Larson wound up finishing a disappointing 28th while Elliott took the checkered flag in 14th. However, now a week removed from a frustrating afternoon in Iowa, as far as the former is concerned, there is no bad blood between them.

“Everybody’s making a big deal about Chase. I really wasn’t that mad at Chase, and too, after seeing the replays and stuff, I was less frustrated,” Larson said on Saturday, via NASCAR. “I move on from things quickly. I don’t really even think that there was a need for a conversation. I’ve ran into him way more, so no, I’m all good and moved on from it.

“It wasn’t what I thought it was from the seat. I was less frustrated with him than I was others. It was just everything kind of compiled and I was trying to keep my cool and then I just exploded.”

Further detracting from any narratives suggesting there was bad blood between the teammates, Elliott admitted he “didn’t know there was any issue, honestly. I just feel like we were going for the same gap at the same time. I didn’t think any of that was intentional, either way. So yeah, I haven’t felt the need [to talk]. If we need to talk, we will, I’m sure. But we haven’t had any issues.”

Elliott may not have felt the need to talk to Larson, but he’ll certainly have felt the need to talk to his team after an unusual mistake at Watkins Glen on Sunday. 

Having been mistakenly told that he had completed the final lap of Stage 1, Elliott was told to coast coming down the main straightaway. Sensing something was wrong, Elliott quickly questioned his spotter’s call, to which he was told, “Keep coming. Yeah, that’s on me. F—.” Although by this point, it was too late, as John Hunter Nemechek had already passed the No. 9.

Thankfully for Elliott’s spotter, the 29-year-old was able to get back past Nemecheck, finishing fourth in the stage. Unfortunately, Elliott wound up finishing the race in 26th, his first finish outside of the top 20 since Las Vegas in October 2024.

As for Larson, he finished 15 laps down in 39th thanks to an early brake issue.