HMS ace Chase Elliott penalised for his incident with close pal Ryan Blaney in the pit road

Chase Elliott ran into trouble at Homestead-Miami Speedway after a pit road incident involving his close friend Ryan Blaney which later resulted in a penalty for the former on Sunday. The incident took place as the NASCAR Cup Series field pitted routinely at the end of Stage 2.

Ryan Blaney, who was frustrated after nearly colliding with Elliott, vented his anger over the team radio. While Hendrick Motorsports driver avoided a penalty for the near-miss. However, he was later penalized for not entering the pit road in a single-file formation.

As the second stage ended, the field headed to pit road for scheduled stops. Chase Elliott came out of his pit stall just as Blaney was approaching, which in turn forced Blaney to swerve to avoid contact. Both drivers were able to avoid major damage, but Blaney felt he got the worst of it and showed his frustration over the radio. Blaney complained, as sourced via RACER.com:

“I get absolutely destroyed by the 9.”

Back on track, Blaney made sure Chase Elliott knew how he felt. He pulled alongside him and exchanged words—or gestures—before racing resumed.

Initially, there was no penalty for Chase Elliott. Later on, however, he was hit with a penalty that is somewhat rare in NASCAR’s races. He was sent to the back of the field for the final stage of the race, which meant any progress that he made in the earlier ones was of no use to him anymore.

Frustrated with the ruling, Elliott defended himself over the radio. He told his team (reported by Jeff Gluck of The Athletic),

“There was zero advantage there. I was simply not trying to hit the guy. I don’t know what to do any different.”

Chase Elliott started 18th at Homestead-Miami in his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro, with a best lap time of 32.331 seconds. It wasn’t his worst qualifying effort this season. That was when he started 19th in Atlanta, where he finished 20th.

---

Chase Elliott joins NASCAR driver approval debate

The NASCAR driver approval process has become a hot topic of discussion among drivers in 2025. Chase Elliott recently shared his thoughts on the matter at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Elliott said, as reported by Daytona Beach News-Journal,

“This is the pinnacle of NASCAR, right? This is supposed to be the top tier of the sport. I do think we need to make sure everyone is ready to go.”

His comments came after concerns were raised when Katherine Legge, an IndyCar and sports car driver, was approved for the Phoenix Raceway Cup Series race with her limited NASCAR experience. Legge struggled, spinning twice and causing an incident with Daniel Suarez.

Elliott welcomed new drivers to the series but stressed the importance of proper preparation.

“I’m not saying [Legge’s] situation was or wasn’t [handled correctly],” he said. “I welcome new drivers… But we need to make sure everyone is ready for race day, just like I had to run an ARCA race at Daytona before my first Truck or Xfinity race. Let’s make sure we’re doing our due diligence.”

Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch also criticized the approval process, calling for a more structured system. Busch specifically argued that active or former drivers should have more input, rather than leaving the decisions solely to NASCAR officials.