Ross Chastain comments on Kyle Larson's wreck during chaotic Nashville overtime restart - "We've worked on our car all day"

Ross Chastain was in contention for the race win at Nashville Superspeedway until Kyle Larson drifted into him during the first overtime restart. The collision ended Chastain's outing, ending his bid for back-to-back victories at the 1.333-mile oval.

The #1 Trackhouse Racing driver lined up 20th on the grid for the Ally 400 and made his way to the front of the field in the latter part of the race, leading 45 laps. In the first overtime restart, he lined up on the front row beside Denny Hamlin, with Larson lining up behind the #11 Toyota driver.

Ross Chastain challenged Hamlin for the race lead on the outside, while Larson in third place, clipped the apron on the bottom of the track and veered into the #1 Trackhouse Racing Chevy. Chastain got spun around and hit the outside barriers, with Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch making contact with him.

On exiting the infield care center, Chastain elaborated on the incident. He said (via Bob Pockrass):

"Hung on the #11's [Denny Hamlin] right rear and got a good start and was turned around backwards. I didn't see what happened."said Chastain, before reaffirming that he didn't see Larson drifiting towards him,"Yeah, No I didn't."

"It's so good to be leading laps fighting the guys that have been upfront all day and all night. We've worked on our car all day, through the rain delay and we had a shot to win. That's really cool to do that again here at Nashville," he added.

Ross Chastain has not won a race this season and was in position to clinch his first victory at Nashville, just like his previous year's campaign. Instead, he left the 1.333-mile oval with a mere 4 points, retaining a 56-point advantage over the playoff cutline.

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Kyle Larson admits fault in contact with Ross Chastain

The #5 Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kyle Larson, insisted that he was trying to steal the lead from Denny Hamlin in the overtime restart, but got tight and unintentionally drifted into Ross Chastain.

Larson expressed regret for wrecking the #1 Trackhouse Racing driver but emphasized that he was putting himself in contention for the victory. He said:

"Just trying to race for the win. Was hoping to kind of get him [Hamlin] out of shape and get me some clean air to the bottom...I ended up getting myself tight and into Ross. Like I said I hate that for Ross. Just doing what I thought I needed to do to try to get myself a decent opportunity to get some clean air and get myself a shot to win," he was quoted as saying by Daily Express.

Joey Logano took the checkered flag after a record five overtime restarts in the NASCAR Cup Series. Larson ran out of fuel and drove back to a P8 finish, while Chastain was classified P33.