"He's with Hendrick" - NASCAR Insider backs Chase Elliott and William Byron as championship contenders

Chase Elliott and William Byron were recently deemed championship contenders by Jordan Bianchi, despite the former winning only one race this season. Following the playoff elimination race at Bristol, Bianchi shared his take on the different drivers' chances of winning the Cup title this year.

In a conversation with Jeff Gluck on the Teardown, the NASCAR insider went through some of the names still in the playoffs. It's worth mentioning that having won one race this year, Elliott is ranked in 7th place on the playoffs table, while William Byron is 4th with three wins.

Bianchi said Kyle Larson is a championship contender, but the one Hendrick driver who isn't is Alex Bowman. Speaking on Elliott, the Teardown co-host said:

"Needs a little bit of work, but...he's in a spot, he's with Hendrick. They can find speed tomorrow and he'll be fine. So yes, he could win the title." [40:45]

Speaking about William Byron, Bianchi claimed:

"William Byron? Yeah, because they can get hot. And if they can get through that next round, you look at what awaits in round three, and those are three tracks where he is good at, Martinsville especially" [41:50].

Adding to that, Bianchi's co-host Jeff Gluck pointed to the #24 team not getting the finishes. He shared the stat that since Pocono, Byron has only had a couple of finishes inside the top 10 in 8 races.

Similarly, Chase Elliott has also not been able to replicate his form from earlier in the season, when he finished inside the top 5 on six occasions in 11 races between Richmond and Iowa and won in Texas. In fact, since his third-place finish at Iowa, Elliott's only top 5 finish was the Bristol elimination race.

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Jordan Bianchi addresses Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin's championship chances

Further sharing his thoughts on the playoff drivers being championship contenders, Jordan Bianchi took Joey Logano's case. In Bianchi's eyes, Logano is on path to make it to the championship 4 in Phoenix.

"I can see a path. I'm curious to see the speed they have at a mile-and-a-half race track, because that's going to be the big thing, especially if you can get to round 3. But if he can get out of this round...and if you look at the last few years at Penske, they have done it, they get better and better. I think Logano or Blaney, one of those two could be in the championship 4, and I really like Logano," Bianchi said. [43:24]

As for Denny Hamlin, the NASCAR journalist said that the #11 driver can "absolutely win the championship." Speaking about Hamlin's chances in the three races of the upcoming round, Bianchi said that he could win at any of the tracks, Kansas, Talladega, or the ROVAL.

Bianchi's predictions of Hamlin acing the upcoming rounds of the playoffs didn't stop at Round of 12, as he described:

"Then you go to round 3, they could win at any of those three tracks, they could win at Vegas, Homestead or Martinsville, and they could sure as hell win at Phoenix. Like they can absolutely win the championship." [45:05]

Bianchi added that the #11 team is a little bit "snakebit" and a little bit off speed, but despite that is still "so good."