Ross Chastain winds up with brutal finish after overtime crash
Mar 20, 2022; Hampton, Georgia, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Ross Chastain ran an excellent race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, but it was all undone by a controversial overtime finish at the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400.
Chastain actually won the second stage of the race and was very much in the mix when a caution forced the race to go into overtime. Chastain was second behind Chase Elliott in the final lap, but wound up getting spun out by William Byron after going high to try to block Byron’s path.
Breaking down Ross Chastain's crash that ended the race at Texas: https://t.co/MJNjxvFdoh pic.twitter.com/roAVRr1vSn
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 14, 2024
For Chastain, the consequences were downright brutal. He was running second and was likely to finish no worse than third before the crash, but as a result of the incident, he wound up not finishing and dropping down to 32nd place.
Byron defended his move after the race, saying he was always going to try to make a move on the final lap and that he had simply beaten Chastain to his spot.
"He blocked me late, which is understood, but I was already there. I hate that happened, but it's the last lap. I'm going to take the run," says William Byron to @BradGillie about the late-race contact with Ross Chastain.
— PRN (@PRNlive) April 14, 2024
Chastain, for his part, declined to speak to the media, and was presumably not pleased with how things went.
Ross Chastain politely declined comment after leaving the infield care center.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) April 14, 2024
Chastain is known as an aggressive driver, and this is not the first time this year something like this has happened to him. One could certainly argue that the 32nd place finish is not terribly fair considering where he was at the end of the regulation portion of the race.