Late in last year’s NASCAR Cup Series penultimate event at Auto Club Speedway, Kyle Larson battled Chase Elliott for the lead with 21 laps remaining.
Larson blocked out the competition.
The 2021 points champion put his Hendrick Motorsports teammate into the wall, en route to capturing the Wise Power 400 in Fontana, California.
The aggressive driving tactic created so much immediate tension within the team garage, owner Rick Hendrick, who rarely attends early week team debriefings, called for a next-day, face-to-face meeting with Larson and Elliott at HQ in North Carolina.
Auto Club Speedway has a way of turning up the heat. Often, the intense D-shaped ride, which, at times, goes five wide, causes drivers to lose their temper.
Many of the pilots are going to miss the California superspeedway built on a formerly toxic waste landfill.
A lot of fans will miss the toxicity of past post-race altercations.
Chase Elliott Calls Teammate Kyle Larson: ‘Stupid … Idiot’
Moments after Larson’s aggressive block attempt to stubbornly deny the outside pass attempt and forced Elliott’s machine into the retaining wall, he yelled into the team’s radio feed, via NASCAR Race Hub’s Radioactive:
“Stupid, ****** ******”
“He’s a ******* Idiot.”
Elliott’s vent continued after getting a feel of his machine after the accident.
“It’s ******* broke again. Piece of ****. ****** ******.”
Larson attempted to explain what happened on his team radio:
“D*****, I’m sorry. I didn’t … I didn’t know he was there.”
After leading for 12 laps, Elliott limped on toward what would prove to be a disappointing 26th-place finish. As he fell back, however, his emotions fumed. Seeing Larson beginning to pull away from the field, Elliott appeared to execute a revenge spin. Unopposed on the 2-mile oval, Elliott’s machine “mysteriously” lost control and spun around, initiating the race’s 12th caution period.
More importantly, to Elliott, the field would re-start close together, giving Austin Dillion, Erik Jones or Daniel Suarez a better chance to overcome Larson.
They couldn’t, but with Larson walling Elliott and Elliott attempting to sabotage Larson’s winning ride, Hendrick immediately stepped in to soothe the series’ then-back-to-back series champs.
Larson, who admits to making the mistake, said the teammates are on better terms, even after they came together at Watkins Glen later last season.
Can it survive one more run at Auto Club Speedway?
Tony Stewart Takes His Frustrations Out of Joey Logano
Emotions also flared in 2013 after hard racing led to Kyle Busch capturing the first Auto Club Speedway win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
With Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin fighting for the lead on the last lap of the Auto Club 400, Logano got loose and bumped Hamlin, whose machine’s front hit the wall hard.
As medics attended to Hamlin breaking a vertebra in his lower back during the crash and Busch climbed out of the winning car, television cameras panned over to additional pit-row action.
Tony Stewart, who finished 22nd, attempted to pick a fight with Logano for blocking him during the race’s final re-start. Quickly, the drivers were separated, but tempers continued to simmer.
Auto Club Speedway has a way of doing that.
As the Cup Series prepares to run its final laps at the two-mile track Sunday, fans should expect more Pala Casino 400 fireworks.
The site is toxic.
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