Chase Elliott Hands Serious Payback Warning to Ross Chastain as Fans Corner Trackhouse Star

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) started as a test of patience for Chase Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsports driver, known for his road course dominance in previous years, struggled early in practice. Despite ranking well in lap averages, he wasn’t among the favorites to claim the pole. But when it mattered most, Elliott delivered.

In a thrilling last-minute lap, he qualified for third place, marking his best starting position at COTA in his Cup Series career. It was a much-needed boost for Elliott, who had been searching for a strong performance after a dry spell on road courses. But before he could even settle into the race, disaster struck. The green flag had barely dropped when Ross Chastain decided to make an aggressive move. And the calm and composed person of Elliott completely flipped in an instant.

Chase Elliott cleans his hands over the radio!

Charging into Turn 1 from the inside, Chastain made unwanted contact with Elliott, sending the No. 9 car into a spin. It was an unnecessary dive-bomb, typical of Chastain’s aggressive racing style. Notably, NASCAR officials didn’t throw the caution, and Elliott crawled back to the pit lane. However, the No. 9 team was not happy with Chastain’s move, and Elliott’s crew chief asked him to wreck Chastain whenever he got a chance.

“We’re gonna have to pay that shit back because I’m over people like that constantly doing dumb shit. When we get a chance to send him, we’re sending that 1 car,” Crew chief Alan Gustafson told Elliott over the radio. However, Chase Elliott held his calm and responded, “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.” Notably, his team reassured him that he had done nothing wrong and that Chastain’s move was reckless.

Fans were also not happy with Chastain’s move, as they slammed him for his unnecessary antics. One summed it up perfectly: “Ross reverted back to 2022.” Notably, Chastain’s history of aggressive driving had calmed down recently, but this reckless move felt like a return to his old ways. In 2022, he angered multiple drivers, including Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., with similar attempts.

Notably, Chase Elliott was once the undisputed “King of the Road,” with seven road course victories between 2018 and 2021. But since the Next-Gen car’s introduction, his dominance has faded. He has gone winless in 19 road course races, including two Chicago Street Races. At COTA, Elliott still had a shot at victory, but Chastain’s move set him back early. Before the race, Elliott had expressed optimism about it, especially after seeing the revamped track.

“I think its a great venue, it’s a great track. I think that the changes that they’ve made are good for us, good for our car. Just visually watching the cars run around…I think that it’s gonna suit just these heavier cars a little better than the long straightaway… the course change potentially would make me want it more just because it will suit us better. But I’ll probably have a better answer after we go run,” he told the media.

Notably, the older or original COTA track is tailor-made for Formula 1 racing. But the new track has been shortened and is more suitable for NASCAR drivers. This comes at a time when NASCAR is reportedly in the final year of its contract with the track. Despite that, Elliott made a blistering comeback, and at the end of the race, he finished fourth ahead of Kyle Busch.

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Fans brutally troll Ross Chastain!

Ross Chastain’s Turn 1 dive-bomb on Chase Elliott didn’t just anger Elliott and his team—it sent fans into a frenzy. The reaction was swift, brutal, and unforgiving. One fan summed up the frustration and wrote, “Chastain doing Chastain things.” This reaction revealed that fans weren’t surprised by the move at all. Chastain has built a reputation for over-aggressive racing, and many believe it’s just part of who he is. It seems as if Rick Hendrick’s warnings from 2023 are starting to fade, and Chastain is back on his villain arc.

However, some fans were brutal on Chastain and called out his lap 1 move. A user wrote, “Idiots, man. Going to win the race on Turn 1, Lap 1.” NASCAR has time and again made changes to the restart zone to avoid Turn 1 chaos. Last year, multiple restarts and yellows plagued the finish of the race. Despite major layout changes in 2025, there was no significant change in how drivers approached Turn 1. Another user echoed the sentiments and said, “EMBARRASSING. Just a pathetic start to this race.”

Meanwhile, some took a direct shot at Chastain’s hypocrisy. “Pretty funny that last week he’s trying to talk to Carson about rough driving and does that,” a user wrote. Notably, last week in Atlanta, Ross Chastain was spotted fuming over Carson Hocevar for his aggressive driving. Now, here he was, making a reckless move himself. Fans weren’t buying into his advice.