During the closing lap of Sunday’s WISE Power 400, Chase Elliott was running just behind his teammate Kyle Larson. Uninformed by his spotter, Larson was oblivious to this fact. So when Elliott tried an outside pass to take the lead, Larson too ran wide on the right.
As a result, Chase Elliott’s Camaro #9's front left made contact with Larson's #5, going into the wall and suffering damage. Moments after the wreck, Elliott went on an expletive-laced tirade on the in-car radio, which came as a surprise to many. He was heard saying:
“Stupid motherf*****. He’s a f****** idiot. It f****** broke again! Piece of s*** motherf*****. God damn it!”
In the final 10 laps, he spun out as a result of his impaired car. Referring back to the incident with Larson, Elliott said:
“It broke that right rear again. What the f*** is he doing, man? I wasn’t even f****** close, I mean, I’m like way, way outside.”
The WISE Power 400 was filled with caution flags throughout the race, as many drivers struggled to keep their Next Gen cars pointed in the right direction. The 12 cautions last weekend equaled the track record set in the Indianapolis 500 race in 2008.
Kyle Larson explains crash with Chase Elliott
Despite the incident with Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson went on to win his first NASCAR 2022 season race at Auto Club Speedway. In explaining his side story during the post-race interview, Larson said:
“I had a run so I went to peel off and as soon as I peeled off, my spotter’s yelling, ‘Outside, outside, outside.’ And I had no clue [Elliott] was even coming. I mean just an honest mistake on probably both of our faults. I should have had more awareness in my mirror, my spotter could have told me he was coming with a big run and we would’ve avoided that mess.”
The 29-year-old later claimed that he would never be that aggressive against Elliott and would try to get on the same page with him. Meanwhile, the Cup Series continues this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Pennzoil 400 on March 6.