WATCH: Chase Elliott Congratulates Teammate Kyle Larson for His Texas Win

At the Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson snatched victory. In the process, he booked his seat in the season finale at Phoenix. As he drove to Victory Lane, he slowed down to accept a congratulatory handshake from teammate Chase Elliott. He is the defending champion, but could potentially lose his title to his teammate. It also does not help matters that he lies in fifth place in the standings.

Apparently, this race was quite chaotic, especially during the final 40 laps of the race. Nevertheless, the Asian-American driver managed to prevail and emerge victorious. As a bonus, he led a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 ahead of William Byron. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell finished third ahead of Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Stewart-Haas’ Kevin Harvick.

Meanwhile, the rest of his Playoff rivals had fairly average races at Texas. The highest finisher among them was Keselowski in fourth, though he still finds himself sixth in the standings. Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott were the only other drivers finishing in the Top 10 at Texas, with Denny Hamlin in 11th.

Kyle Larson has nothing to lose in the next two races

Speaking after the race, he said, “I just got good pushes from behind me, really. I tried to stay patient on the throttle to keep them to my back bumper, and thankfully, I was able to just barely clear them every time off of (Turn) 1 and not have to fight them off of (Turn) 2. Thanks to William, Tyler, Brad Keselowski – anybody that was ever behind me, especially Brad there on that last restart.”

Now, the #5 Hendrick Motorsports driver can rest easy at Kansas and Martinsville and await his final three rivals. Admittedly, though, he could try and play the team game and sneak Chase Elliott into the Championship 4. On the other end of the spectrum, the situation could be every man for himself.

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