“If we get a chance to do it, we are going to send that 1 car.” This stern message from Chase Elliott’s team was enough to rattle his rival. Disaster was awaiting Rick Hendrick’s drivers at every turn of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix race. The very first victim was Chase Elliott, whose No. 9 Chevrolet incurred damage on the very first lap.

Ross Chastain, driver of the Trackhouse Racing No. 1 Chevrolet, slammed Chase Elliott’s car in the left rear on the very first corner. The No. 9 car sustained so much damage as a result that Elliott’s team had to repair it on multiple pit stops. So, despite Chastain’s apologetic moves, Elliott is still mad, and for good reason. Despite holding the most road course wins for any active driver (7), he has been unable to win there in the Next-Gen care, and incidents like these just make his struggles more frustrating.

Chase Elliott fumes about his COTA outing

Well, Ross Chastain put him through a lot. Chase Elliott qualified 3rd for the COTA race, marking a slight resurgence from his dry streak on road courses, where he last won in 2021. So, after Chastain’s aggressive antics, Elliott lost that sparkle. He fell to the back of the field on the very first lap. Then, after immense repairs and a lot of hard work, he was a contention again in stage three. By sheer determination to become the ‘King of the Road’ again, Elliott worked his way upward.

Chase Elliott could take advantage of the final caution when his team pitted for tires. The other thing that helped him was Ross Chastain’s move on the final few laps. Fearing retaliation, the No. 1 Chevy slowed down on lap 94 and let Elliott occupy the sixth spot. Despite this subtle attempt at an apology, Elliott was still fuming post-race. He told NBC Sports, “It was just a crazy day, really,” and uttered a 4-word verdict: “I got run over, I felt like, there in the first corner.” The immediate disappointment must have been a dampener for the seven-time road course race winner.

Chase Elliott added, clearly chafing from the damage. “Yeah, for sure. I hadn’t seen it. So I don’t want to comment yet. But just, you know, it’s the first lap of the dang race. Just frustrating to fall behind there early, had damage and toe knocked out in the back.” The No. 9 Chevrolet was battered and broken at first. But the car also showed immense resilience and jumped back to clinch a 4th-place finish. So, Elliott wished it could have been even better. “I would have loved to be in the mix. Easy thing to say when you have a bad day. But I felt like our car was pretty solid yesterday. And after the damage, we finally got it back in a respectable position.” 

Top Comment by billeeG

I don’t like Anybody that runs into a #9 Elliott car ,,, period… Go Dawgs

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Debate

Even while indirectly firing shots at Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott also gleaned the positives. Most importantly, his team made great efforts to restore the car.

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Overcoming the challenge

Well, the No. 9 team was initially infuriated at Ross Chastain. “I’m tired of that s—,” crew chief Alan Gustafson radioed. However, soon, the team’s attention shifted to the more pressing matter at hand – how to get the car up to speed again. After operating the necessary repairs, the No. 9 squad used good strategies. Chase Elliott and his team took advantage of other competitors’ short-pitting stages by staying out and collecting six stage points. Then, when the final caution flag waved, Gustafson brought Elliott down pit road for tires. With fresh rubber, Elliott was able to power through to a solid 4th-place finish in the end.

So besides fuming at Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott showered praises on his team members. “Alan, Matt, and everybody did a great job fixing it and getting us in a good position. Fell behind there on the restart and really was just playing catch-up. I thought we got our NAPA Chevy back in a reasonable place.” He added, “Alan made a great call there in the end, too – put tires us to get us in the offense. It was a gamble for sure; at that point, we didn’t have anything to lose. Sometimes that’s a good position to be in. At the end of the day, it worked out to come back and get us a solid finish. I don’t even know how that happened.”

Well, after terrorizing Kyle Larson in 2023 and hearing from Rick Hendrick, it seems like Ross Chastain has not learned his lesson. This time, he has made Chase Elliott his victim. However, his show of apology at the end, by letting Elliott pass, could have been him recollecting Rick Hendrick’s message in 2023, when the HMS boss said, “I’ve told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back.”

Despite all the drama, Ross Chastain is not taking up the entire attention of the HMS fold. Instead, Chase Elliott and his team are proud of making up for lost track position.