"William Byron helped Mickey Mouse win" - NASCAR fans react to HMS' No. 24 and Ross Chastain collision that handed the Texas victory to Chase Elliott

Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron and Chase Elliott were in the spotlight for opposite reasons at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. While Elliott secured the victory, Byron was involved in a last-lap incident with Ross Chastain.

Despite starting 24th in the race, the #9 Hendrick Motorsports driver gained track position in the first stage with an alternative strategy. As victory contenders Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin were out of contention, Elliott emerged as the favorite among the front runners to win the race.

After taking the white flag in the overtime restart, Chase Elliott was in the lead, when William Byron made contact with Ross Chastain while dueling for second position, triggering the caution. As a result, Elliott had to take the checkered flag under caution.

Although the majority of fans celebrated the return of NASCAR Cup Series' most popular driver to victory lane, some argued that the cautions caused by his teammates in the final laps allowed Chase Elliott to secure the victory.

One X (formerly Twitter) user dubbed Elliott's victory as a "Mickey Mouse" win. The comment read:

"Larson and Byron caused cautions that helped Mickey Mouse get the win."

Another X user claimed that Byron wrecked Chastain to safegaurd Elliott's win:

"Pretty straightforward…one HMS driver wrecks the threat to the other HMS driver. You can always tell when a Hendrick car is cheating…it’s on a racetrack."

A third NASCAR fan referred to the late race wreck as a classic Hendrick strategy.

"Yeah it’s called Hendrick strategy," the comment read.

A few other comments read:

"Guess they gonna let Hedrick drivers crash everyone for wins and second place the rest of the season," one fan wrote.

"funny he did it so chase could win, love it" another fan chimed in.

"Bryon wrecks Chastain so Elliot can win great team work," another fan commented.

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William Byron explains his last-lap contact with Ross Chastain

The #24 Hendrick Motorsports driver classified the last-lap contact with Ross Chastain as a racing incident. He explained that he had a run and was on the inside when the #1 Chevy driver slowed down, resulting in the unfortunate contact.

William Byron explained that he has raced well with Ross Chastain in the past and clarified that he had no intentions of wrecking the #1 Trackhouse Racing driver. He said post-race via Frontstretch.com:

"I was just far enough inside that I was there and I had a run and... its the last lap. We always race really well, and so I don’t want to do that to him but unfortunately just kind of came together there and nothing you could really do about that...Just racing, I had a run and I was there."

William Byron was classified third while Chastain lost track position to the lead lap drivers, and was classfied 32nd.