WATCH: HMS star Chase Elliott walks up to fist-bump Kyle Busch after the race in an unseen video

Chase Elliott, widely regarded as one of NASCAR's finest road course racers, once again proved his skills at COTA, finishing in the top four after a gruelling recovery drive. In a post-race video clip shared on X, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was seen fist-bumping Kyle Busch, who finished behind him to round off the top-five spots at the Echopark Texas Grand Prix.

While a top four finish might not come as a surprise for Chase Elliott, who always has a strong pace in road racing, his drive was far from easy. The HMS star was caught in a turn one incident when Ross Chastain chose to go for a dive-bomb move that got Elliott turned around in the very first corner of the race.

He suffered from a toe-link issue as a result and ran outside the top 20 for most of the race. However, the No. 9 team kept improving the car little by little. After the final caution came out on lap 79, Elliott's crew chief Alan Gustafson chose to pit him for fresh tires. The strategy allowed Chase Elliott to move up the field quickly, eventually getting to P4 at the finish line, ahead of Kyle Busch. Elliott later approached Busch and gave him a fist bump.

Kyle Busch had a good race overall. While the hopes of ending his winless streak didn't come true, he ended up scoring the most number of points (46) on Sunday. Busch last won a race at the Gateway Motorsports Park in June 2023.

Having started eighth on the grid, The Richard Childress Racing driver was in contention for victory throughout the race. He finished fourth in the first two stages and was in the lead of the race with just six laps to go before Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell overtook him and went on to win back-to-back races in 2025. Busch had a side-to-side contact with the No. 20 car of Bell and as a result fell down to fifth place.

Bell won the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta and the victory in COTA is his third victory at a road course. Last year's winner at COTA, William Byron came home in second and pole sitter Tyler Reddick rounded off the podium spots.

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Chase Elliott's crew chief fed up with the 'stupidity' of other drivers

Had it not been for the first lap incident and the subsequent mechanical issues, Chase Elliott had a good enough car to aim for a win having started in a good position. After getting spun around on the first lap, he asked his crew chief if he did something wrong. Alan Gustafson calmed his driver saying he wasn't at fault but blasted Ross Chastain for the overly aggressive move in Turn 1.

"You didn’t do anything wrong, just stupidity," Gustafson told Elliott.

He also added that they have to pay back the No. 1 car for what happened on lap one.

"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," Gustafson said on team radio.

Chase Elliott responded by saying that he will do what he needs to do but just wanted to be sure that he wasn't at fault in that situation.

"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," Elliott replied back to his crew chief.

Chase Elliott currently sits at the fifth spot in the driver's standings at 95 points, joint with Christopher Bell (although the latter has two race wins). They are 21 behind the championship leader William Byron.