Hendrick Motorsports once again found itself in a dilemma. After a shaky qualification to the playoffs for its drivers, the team found a balance between its drivers. #5 and #24 Chevrolet Camaro drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron took turns to dominate the proceedings. Due to this, team owner Rick Hendrick had been forced to divide his support for the Championship-4 race in Phoenix.

Mr. Hendrick took a hint from the recent developments in the Xfinity Series. Having seen Richard Childress Racing suffer at the hands of Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill being overly competitive, he expressed his desire to avoid such a situation within his team a few days ago. However, although a lot of it can be attributed to circumstances, 2021 Cup champion Kyle Larson had no intentions of letting his employer down.

Kyle Larson wanted to bring home a 15th championship for HMS

Rick Hendrick’s demand from his drivers was clear. The directive was to play it clean and not ruin a teammate’s race at any cost. Byron has had few run-ins or wrecks owing to his neat style of racing as compared to Kyle Larson. The #5 driver has been on the receiving end of some big blows this season. One even includes a controversial war of words against old friend Denny Hamlin.

Larson arrived in 2021 and, since then, has succeeded in ranking among some of the best drivers in the competition regularly. Coming into Phoenix, he was the strongest candidate to win due to prior experience winning a championship race in Phoenix. Reiterating his team owner’s opinion of avoiding a situation of infighting, the 31-year-old had voiced mutual respect for his #24 teammate in a conversation with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“William and I, in the three years that I have been at Hendrick Motorsports, I don’t think I have ever had any near run-ins together,” claimed Kyle Larson. “I think yeah, just continue racing each other like we always do, knowing in the back of our minds that one of us needs to win to give Mr. H a 15th championship. Obviously, we are all selfish. We are all race car drivers; we are selfish, and we want to win for ourselves and for the team.”

If anything, the situation between Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill last week in Martinsville lacked team spirit and mutual respect. Larson before the Phoenix race believed respecting each other goes a long way in such cases, as he cherished having someone as talented and able as Byron as a contender. He added,

“We got to have respect, which we do. I have a ton of respect for William on the race track and off it. He’s a great teammate. I really enjoy having him as a teammate, and I’m glad that we get to experience this Round of 4 together. Hopefully, one of us comes out the winner.”

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William Byron and Kyle Larson had been incredible throughout the season and had displayed their dominance on multiple occasions. Byron overall came out as the winningest driver of 2023 but finished fourth behind his teammate, who finished third in Phoenix.

Despite doing better in qualifying than his championship rivals, William Byron was left behind

The 25-year-old North Carolina speedster shrugged off any concerns from last week. The final race of the penultimate round in Martinsville was probably the worst outing William Byron has had in the playoffs in terms of impact. That also created a precarious situation for him, with a risk of losing points to a resurgent Hamlin.

Eliminating the possibility of fighting back to the front row again, Byron sped to a Busch Light Pole in the qualifying race. With the speed he has shown in #24, they were likely to dominate on Sunday. Regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. started alongside Byron in the front row while Larson fell to a P4 start.

Championship rivals Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney suffered in the qualifying session, on the other hand. Bell ran an uncharacteristic qualifying race to take up P13 after a mechanical failure in the third round. Whereas the #12 driver, and the championship winner Ryan Blaney, had to be content with a P15 start for Sunday.

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Among the final 4, Ryan Blaney boasted the best average finishing position in Phoenix and was already considered a dark horse. Kyle Larson could not add a second championship to his legacy, but the driver who got a P15 in qualifying did. Hence, NASCAR remains an unpredictable sport.