Chase Elliott is odd one out in Hendrick – Sports News
Hendrick Motorsports has had a dominant couple of weeks. After William Byron led 243 laps consecutively at Darlington final week, solely to be crushed to Victory Lane by Denny Hamlin, it was Kyle Larson’s flip to guide from the entrance and this time take victory.
Larson swept the primary two phases of the Food City 500, solely shedding the lead with round 100 laps to go in a cycle of inexperienced flag pit stops.
Larson, who gained Saturday’s Xfinity Series race after a enormous crash noticed a car torn aside, took the lead on lap 40 and was out in entrance for 350 consecutive laps, essentially the most consecutive laps led in a Cup Series race since Kyle Busch led 415 in 2008 on the similar observe.
He took the lead from teammate Alex Bowman, who led the primary 39 laps after beginning on pole place. With 50 laps to go, after the pit stop cycle was full, he was back up entrance.
When Larson briefly relinquished the lead, Hendrick Motorsports drivers had led 593 of the final 647 laps in the Cup Series – an unbelievable 91.65% in the previous two races.
Speaking after teammate Larson gained at Homestead-Miami Speedway three weeks in the past, Hendrick Motorsports chief Jeff Gordon mentioned the state of Elliott’s crew.
He’s responded nicely, ending fourth the next week at Martinsville then eighth at Darlington, though his hunt for his first win since Texas final 12 months continues.
“I feel like they came into the season with a lot of momentum as well and started strong, meaning you could just sense that they’ve got a lot of confidence and coming to the racetrack ready to go,” Gordon mentioned after the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I think the last couple of weeks probably were a little bit frustrating for them. I think (Homestead) is probably going to be a little bit frustrating for them, too. But they’re a really solid team. Just a lot of depth and a lot of belief in one another.
“You know, you’ve got to get through the rocky times. … Again, it’s a high standard at Hendrick, what everybody brings, like (Kyle Larson’s) team did (winning Homestead). And so a lot of times you’re really measuring yourself against the best that there are out there, and a lot of times that’s right in your own stable.
“So if you’re not achieving what you want to achieve, then you know you’ve got to go to work, and you know that you’re not meeting expectations. So those guys have high expectations, Alan (Gustafson), Chase. It’s not unusual for them to get down a little bit on, ‘Hey, this isn’t good enough,’ but I’ve seen them react really well and positively to that too.”
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