On the very first turn in last week’s Circuit of the Americas NASCAR Cup Series race, Ross Chastain tried to beat a five-wide group to the inside.
He didn’t make it. Instead, he spun out Chase Elliott.
Chastain didn’t comment on the mistake after the race, but on Saturday ahead of this weekend’s racing in Phoenix, he graciously admitted he was wrong.
“It was an error,” Chastain told The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck. “When I went inside (Kyle Larson), I thought we were slow enough from the restart zone and that was not the case. I get to live with that, but from the outside, it doesn’t look good. And the intention was just…it was an error. It’s a big error to go bottom of five(-wide). That was not necessary.”
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Elliott spent much of the race working his way back up from the rear of the field, thankfully having not damaged his car much and instead just having to wait for the field to pass before he could move forward again.
By the end, Elliott wound up in fourth place, a fantastic result given how his race started. But it also showed how good his car was, and it’s fair to wonder what might’ve been if not for the race-opening collision.
Late in Sunday’s race, Chastain actually decided to move out of Elliott’s way and let him pass, rather than defend the attempt too vigorously.
“When he was spun, I would have swapped spots with him if I could have, because I had instantly hurt his day,” Chastain said. “I just sat there wishing it was opposite… I owed him that and more, to let him have that spot.”
Chastain came away from Sunday’s race having hurt his reputation a bit, but maybe these comments will start to put him back in some competitors’ better graces.
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