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With action underway at the Circuit of the Americas, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain got involved in an incident in turn one on Sunday. With the drivers going 4 and even 5-wide, the first turn at COTA turned into chaos and resulted in #9 for Hendrick Motorsports facing the wrong way.
Elliott, who had started in the second row, P3, had high hopes for an early lead until he found himself spun around, wondering if he'd done something wrong. He thus asked his crew chief if the incident had been his fault, for he didn't want to start unprovoked beef with anyone.
Alan Gustafson, Chase Elliott's crew chief, then replied over the radio that it hadn't been his fault, but Chastain's. The 2020 Cup Series champion answered:
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“No, that’s totally fine. I’ll do what I need to do. But I just need to make sure I wasn’t in the wrong before I do it," Chase Elliott was heard saying in a clip shared by NASCAR on X.
For his part, Gustafson was much more agitated than his driver:
"You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just stupidity but you know, we’re gonna have to pay that sh*t back because I’m over people like that constantly doing dumb sh*t. When we get a chance to send him, we’re sending that #1 car," Alan Gustafson said.
Jamie Little, commentator for FOX NASCAR, was excited about the race's start and narrated the incident alongside former driver Kevin Harvick.
"Who came diving up the inside? That was Ross Chastain and he turned Chase (Elliott) around," Jamie Little said live, during the race (min 0:24 onward).
"You have to protect yourself in turn one, and Ross Chastain just went for a dive bomb move right there and just wiped out Chase Elliott," Kevin Harvick added, live in FOX's transmission (min 0:36 onward).
Fortunately for Elliott, he managed to finish Stage One in P5. On the other hand, Chastain received a pass-through penalty for sending a crew member over the wall too soon.
Chase Elliott's P3 to start COTA was no easy feat
To make matters worse, Chase Elliott's second-row start came after a troublesome qualifying, in which he had aborted his first try, which meant that he would have to deliver an extra-special performance in his second. And he delivered; he was third fastest in the high-stakes final run.
P1 and P2 were won by 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, which was the first-ever lock-out in the team's history. 23XI Racing is co-owned by NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. The team debuted in the Daytona 500 four years ago in 2021, and this is the first time they have locked the front row.
