- NASCAR's road race at Watkins Glen ended with yet another controversial finish.
- On the final restart, Kyle Larson shoved Chase Elliott wide and took the win.
Controversy struck again at the end of a NASCAR race this weekend. Keeping in line with a season that's seen drivers get more physical than ever, this time one driver took out a teammate for the win.
On the final restart with five laps to go at Watkins Glen, defending champion Kyle Larson was on the inside of 2020 NASCAR champ and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. As the pair entered Turn 1, Larson drove wide, shoving Elliott out of the way, taking the lead and eventually winning the race.
—NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 21, 2022
The win was the second for Larson this season. Elliott, who was knocked back to third after the shove, finished fourth.
After the race, Elliott didn't slam his teammate, but his tone and stone face suggested frustration, which should lead to some fireworks during this week's team meetings.
"Congratulations, you did a great job," Elliott said when asked what he would say to Larson. "Looking forward to going to [Daytona] next week."
When asked about the final restart, Elliott again just offered congratulations to Larson.
Larson acknowledged the aggressive racing later and seemed to understand his teammate's frustration.
"I knew that was kind of my only opportunity," Larson said, later adding: "I'm not proud of it, but it was what I felt like I had to do to get the win."
—NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 21, 2022
Larson also twice suggested that Elliott only had himself to blame for choosing to be on the outside of Turn 1 late in the race.
This was the second notable late-race incident between the two drivers this season. At the February Fontana race in California, Larson ran Elliott into the wall and took his first win of the season.
Elliott was furious [Warning: graphic language].
After the latest incident, Elliott was also seen having what appeared to be an animated and serious conversation with team owner Rick Hendrick and team executive Jeff Gordon. When asked about the conversation, Elliott would only say that he offered Hendrick congratulations on the win.
The big winners were the fans
NASCAR has a growing bumper-cars problem this season as there have been several late-race incidents where drivers appear to be using contact to their advantage. While Daniel Suarez blamed the toughness of the new NextGen vehicles, former NASCAR crew chief and current race commentator Steve Letarte said this incident was good for the fans.
Not only did the race have an exciting finish, but it removed any doubt about how competitive these drivers would be when a win is on the line and a teammate is the opponent.
"If I'm [Elliott crew chief Alan Gustafson], if I'm Chase, I'm definitely disappointed," said Letarte, who was a crew chief for both Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. "We're going to have a conversation [with Larson] tomorrow about it. But if I'm the race fan, I should be applauding what I just saw out of Kyle Larson. Because the day Kyle Larson doesn't drive into Turn 1 to win this race, then we have a whole conversation to talk about with these four-car organizations."
Teammates racing as opponents is not a new concept in motor sports, and in NASCAR, each organization can have up to four cars. However, the integrity of the races has felt like a bigger issue in Formula One, where team directives can decide races when a clear driver hierarchy is present.
In NASCAR, the drivers are left to decide it on the track, even if it means taking out a teammate.
"What I love is they're teammates," Letarte said. "They share information. We have all these buzzwords. But when they put helmets on, they're race car drivers."