Two pit road penalties in two weeks! That is barely what one expects from Chase Elliott, crew chief Alan Gustafson, and the #9 team. Now, was it even their fault at the Brickyard 400 last Sunday? Or did NASCAR pull another howler by messing up their pre-race instructions for that confusing pit-lane exit?

Truthfully? This whole issue can be deemed nothing more than a simple case of barriers in ‘communication.’ The same kind that NASCAR official Elton Sawyer prided the organization on earlier during the week while issuing public clarifications to SiriusXM Ch. 90. But they should probably talk it out with Chase Elliott instead, who was not happy to be penalized.

Indeed, several raised their eyebrows once the sport’s Most Popular Driver openly cussed his anger against the sanctioning body over the radio. However, Rick Mast recently spoke out in favor of Elliott’s now-infamous F-bomb tirade. And the 67-year-old made a heartwarming plea on behalf of Chase’s troubling tongue to the entire NASCAR community.

Rick Mast defends Chase Elliott’s Brickyard fury

When NASCAR penalized Elliott for a pit-road infraction around Lap 125, it sure did not make sense to a lot of people. Even Brad Keselowski’s #6 car suffered a penalty for going “beyond the white line on the acceleration lane between Turns 1 & 2.” In fairness, replays of that pit cycle would probably show many more cars that ‘swung wide’ past the aforementioned white line. Even NASCAR’s resident analyst Steve Letarte hinted at that fact in his post-race dissections from Inside The Line alongside Todd Gordon. Moreover, it did not help much that there were three white lines and NASCAR wasn’t exactly specific with their criteria of a “racing surface” at Indy.

Hence, when Chase vented his frustrations at those regulating the race decisions, saying,  “I did exactly what the f***ing sheet said to do while those pieces of s**t motherf***ers are sitting up there not doing a f***ing thing,” it was understandable.  That was only one part of Elliott’s exchange with Alan Gustafson. The rest of it is equally furious if not more profanity-laden. Although his outburst was thankfully censored during the live broadcasts on NBC, many were not having it with this Rated-R dialogue coming from the sport’s 6x reigning MPD.

Regardless, Rick Mast came to the defense of Elliott in a recent discussion with Charlie Marlow on The Rick Mast Show. As Mast began, “I mean the nine car was really haulin’ the mail. They had a good race car. And then he got busted for the penalty. I mean he got penalized for going over the line and, you know, I didn’t really understand it at the time. I know they were mad… We’ve all heard Chase, right? His profanity and cussin’…” He then outlined a message for those supporters who might have already put Chase in their bad books for his Brickyard tirade. “For the fans that heard that, and might try to think bad of Chase because of that. Don’t do that fans,“ said Rick Mast.

He explained, “When a driver puts his helmet on. You know, it just, it forces blood out of the brain. I mean, or you put the seat belts on. Something happens when you get behind a steering wheel. I mean, I’ve seen the most docile drivers, like the Harry Gants in the world, right? Never raise a voice. You’d never hear a cuss word out of him. You put him in that race car and put the helmet on him, and you think, my Lord, you know, I’ve never seen anybody like this or heard stuff like this.”

“But that’s just what happens because you’re in the moment. You know, you’re very passionate about it,” added Mast. He then elaborated on what may exactly have brought about the #9 driver’s frustrations: “And like in Chase’s case, he felt like he got wronged. You know, if you look at what the rule ended up being. And if you look at what he did. He didn’t get wronged, right? He was outside of both lanes. His deal was, it wasn’t clear. And I agree with that. it probably wasn’t clear.”

In the replays, the #9 drags all four tires across the apron above the white line. However, the rule sheet does not specify the apron as the racing surface. Although most familiar with the Brickyard’s oval layout would realize that the bottom line is the faster line regardless. But on the other hand, Keselowski’s #6 Ford only swung its right-side tires above the penultimate white line. This makes many wonder what was going through NASCAR’s collectible minds while issuing these race-altering penalties. After all, both Chase Elliott & Brad Keselowski had to lose crucial track position in Stage 1 following this incident.

To clear the air, Senior VP of competitions at NASCAR, Elton Sawyer, came through on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to discuss the contentious penalties.

Beyond the “white line” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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According to the pit lane rules at Indy, a car must use the acceleration lane through turn 2 and then join the rest of the pack once up to speed. Elton Sawyer referenced this and said, “As you look at the video, that basically says that you have to stay in the acceleration lane there until you exit Turn 2, then you blend up on the racetrack… NASCAR then sent drivers additional information ‘to help clarify any confusion that may have come out of the videos that at no point could you go up on the racing surface.’ So we felt like that we were in a pretty good place…”

Therefore, the big outlier seems to have been the fact that all four of Elliott’s tires were well on the racing surface. But that begs the question: which part of the racetrack did NASCAR consider the racing surface between Turns 1 & 2? In the replay, Kyle Larson’s 2024 Brickyard 400 winning car is noticeable just barely straddling the top-most line behind Elliott’s #9. He did not receive any penalty for his move. After winning the race last Sunday, the #5 driver revealed his initial encounter with the rule on NBC, “None of us knew what the rule was. I don’t think NASCAR initially knew what the rule was because then we started kind of getting communication with them… I think it was Saturday probably before the Xfinity race, I think they had released the rule.”

Larson acknowledged the slight advantage Chase Elliott’s penalty gave to his glorious advances. As per Larson, the man used this learning experience for his Hendrick teammate to determine “how much further” his own car could “swing out” on Sunday. It is safe to say it surely did help the #5 driver, as he outlasted another fuel-mileage race to claim his first win at the Brickyard. his teammate initially gained back his track position toward the front. But eventually ended his race in P10, seven spots below his starting position of P3.

With the Olympics break dawning in, only four races away from the 2024 playoffs, the drama appears to be heightening with each passing day.