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The NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) started with chaos. As the field barreled into Turn 1, Ross Chastain made an aggressive dive-bomb move, causing a five-wide stack-up that sent Chase Elliott spinning. The No. 9 car, which had been one of the strongest in qualifying, was suddenly at the back of the pack
For Elliott, it was a frustrating moment. But for his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, it was infuriating. Over the team radio, Gustafson didn’t hold back his anger. “We’re gonna have to pay that s— back because I’m over people like that constantly doing dumb s—. When we get a chance to send him, we’re sending that 1 car,” he fumed. The call for retaliation was clear. Many expected Elliott to take matters into his own hands.
The frustration was understandable. Elliott had qualified third and looked primed for a strong race. Instead, he had to fight through traffic, eventually clawing his way to an impressive fourth-place finish. But despite the anger from his team and the NASCAR community calling for retaliation, Elliott chose a different approach. Ahead of the Phoenix race, instead of seeking payback, Elliott dismissed the idea altogether, focusing on the bigger picture.
Chase Elliott refuses to retaliate!
After the race, Elliott didn’t show much emotion about the situation. While he acknowledged the frustration, he refused to fuel the fire. “I haven’t seen it, so I don’t wanna comment yet, but it’s the first lap of the dang race,” Elliott said. “Frustrating to just fall behind there early.” A week later at the Phoenix Raceway, the Hendrick Motorsports driver didn’t try to fuel the issues. He downplayed the controversy and avoided escalating the situation.
“There’s not really a lot for me to comment on it, you know. I hate that it happened. I hate that, you know, it’s easy for me to say that I wish it wasn’t on the first lap, which is true, but if that happens at any point in the race, you’re probably going to be, you know, bummed out about it,” Elliott told Bob Pockrass ahead of Sunday’s race. Elliott’s response was measured. He was clearly upset about how his race started, but he didn’t call out Chastain. This was in contrast to the heated reactions from his crew and other drivers who had grown frustrated with Chastain’s aggressive style
Eventually, Chastain broke his silence. Ahead of the Phoenix race, he admitted his mistake. “When I watched the overhead view, yeah, I mean, I’m the outlier, so I’m the furthest left, and I’m the fastest. So yeah, it was an error. I thought we were slow enough from the restart zone, but that was not the case. That was a bad move. I just, I don’t know how else to say it. I get to take that, and I get to live with that. From the outside, it doesn’t look good,” he admitted.
wouldn’t have made the move. He also made it clear that he never intended to wreck Elliott but simply miscalculated the situation. By finally addressing the incident, Chastain may have salvaged some respect from his peers. However, his decision to let Elliott pass later in the race showed a level of caution that some believe is uncharacteristic of him. However, considering his history with Rick Hendrick’s drivers, maybe he was just saving himself.
Back in 2023, Ross Chastain was involved in multiple wrecks with Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet #5 Kyle Larson. Despite Chastain also driving a #1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, Hendrick did not hold back in his criticism of the driver. “I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevrolet if he wrecks our cars, I don’t care. I’ve told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back. If you don’t do it, they’ll run all over you
