Ross Chastain breaks silence on his Chase Elliott incident with a bold message: "With the risk, there's always a reward"

A week after being tight-lipped on the incident with Chase Elliott, Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain has spoken his mind. The #1 Chevrolet driver wrecked into the Hendrick Motorsports rival at the Circuit of The Americas but refused to address the ordeal post-race.

The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix kicked off with 23XI's Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace in the front. But as the pack neared Turn 1, the NextGen cars bunched up in a five-wide formation, tightly maneuvering through the turn. But in the due process, Chastain's aggression proved costly for Elliott. Moreover, the former abstained from addressing the issue for a week.

That silence, however, ended before the 2025 Cup Series season's fourth weekend at the Phoenix Raceway. Chastain explained his side to Bob Pockrass and admitted to his opening lap blunder that had infuriated Chase Elliott.

"Yeah, it was an error. When I went inside to five (wide in Turn 1), I thought we were slow enough from the restart zone, and that was not the case. So, I get to take that, I get to live with that," Chastain said (0:10).

Intrigued, Pockrass asked Chastain why he showed aggressiveness on the opening lap. The Trackhouse Racing driver replied:

"With the risks, there's always a reward. That move was a bad move. I felt in control until I got to like the last third of the brake zone, and then I started locking the rear, and not being able to be as slow as I wanted to." (0:47).

Despite the opening lap chaos, Elliott made a remarkable comeback to post a fourth-place finish on the 2.3-mile circuit.

Chase Elliott expressed his views after the COTA clash with Ross Chastain

Chase Elliott entered COTA looking to build momentum after a tumultuous start to the season. He showed signs of a promising Cup Series season after triumphing in the preseason exhibition race at the Bowman Gray Stadium. However, the #9 driver faced a blow during the season-opener Daytona 500 race, as he salvaged a 15th-place finish on the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

The following race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway only added to the 2020 Cup Series champion's woes. Elliott's #9 Chevy got caught up in a multicar crash late in Stage 2 and succumbed to a 20th-place finish.

But the COTA weekend began on a hopeful note. The HMS driver posted his best qualifying result in a points-paying race this season and had a strong shot at contending for a win. But unbeknownst to him, Chastain's aggressive move sent him spinning on the newly reconfigured track.

"I hadn't seen it, you know. So I don't want to, I don't want to comment yet, but just, you know, first lap of the dang race, right? But just frustrating to just fall behind there. Early, we had damage toe knocked out in the back, and Alan and Matt, everybody did a great job fixing it and getting us in a good position, and fell behind there on that restart and was really just playing catch-up," Elliott expressed his disappointment, via Fox:NASCAR.

Chase Elliott stood sixth fastest in the Phoenix qualifying and would begin the 312-lap race ranked fifth.