Elliott appeared on his way to his fifth victory of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season but got shoved out of the groove by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson on a restart with five of 90 laps remaining.
Elliott dropped back to fifth after the contact while Larson moved into the lead and went on to claim the win. Elliott rallied to fourth at the finish.
In an interview immediately after the race, Elliott was both deflecting and curt in his answers on the subject.
“Just a huge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the No. 5 team. Congratulations to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting another win,” Elliott said.
Asked whether he would have a follow-up conversation with Larson, Elliott said, “Congratulations. He did a great job. Seriously, they deserve it. Looking forward to going to (Daytona) next week and trying to get one for our team.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick and HMS executive Jeff Gordon were the first to greet Elliott at his car on pit road. The three had what appeared to be a serious conversation with Elliott utilizing hand gestures in his conversation with them.
Asked about the discussion’s subject matter, Elliott said, “Just congratulated him. Like I said, always good to see HMS win. The boss deserves all the wins, all the great things that go on with this company. Proud of that. Looking forward to next week.”
It wasn’t a bad day by any means for Elliott as he claimed the 2022 regular season championship and the 15 playoff points that come with it.
But after leading a race-high 29 laps which was helped by a clever two-pit stop strategy, it was likely not easy seeing a third win at The Glen in six career starts go to the wayside.
Still, it is the first regular season title for Elliott, who won the 2020 season championship, and he recognized the importance of the accomplishment in terms of his chances at a season series title.
“It’s 15 (playoff points) right? It’s a big deal,” he said. “It gets us to more than we’ve ever had (entering the playoffs). We would love to keep adding to it, obviously.
“I had an opportunity to add to that today, but didn’t, so we’ll go to Daytona and try to add to it there.”
