Ross Chastain admitted that dive bombing turn 1 at the beginning of the Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas and spinning out Chase Elliott was a “big error.”
On the first lap of the race, Chastain dove to the inside of Kyle Larson to make it five-wide heading up the hill into turn 1. Larson attempted to block him, but Chastain was already there. When he got to the apex of the turn, he was unable to turn his car and made contact with Chase Elliott who was challenging for the second spot.
Weird and wild start to the Cup race at COTA
Bubba Wallace gets jacked up by Carson Hocevar at the drop of the green flag. Then, Ross Chastain divebombs into the first corner and spins out Chase Elliott. pic.twitter.com/0736uj6LxY
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 2, 2025
Elliott’s team was not happy with the move with one member saying, “We’re going to have to pay that s**t back because I’m over people like that, honestly, doing dumb s**t. If we get a chance to send him, we’re sending that 1 car.”
Elliott replied, “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.”
Chase Elliott’s team isn’t happy with Ross Chastain. Elliott doesn’t exactly sound thrilled but wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything wrong first.
“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… pic.twitter.com/02KLcK8EJU
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 2, 2025
Chastain addressed the move ahead of the Cup series race at Phoenix telling Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, “When I watched the overhead view, yeah, I’m the outlier. I’m the furthest left and I’m the fastest so-. Yeah, it was an error. When I went inside the 5 I thought we were slow enough from the restart zone and that was not the case. So I get to take that and I get to live that. But from the outside it doesn’t look good. And the intention was-. It was an error, a big error to go bottom of five. That was not necessary.”
He also added, “That move was a bad move. Just don’t know how else to say it. In the moment I felt in control until I got to the last third of the break zone and then I started locking the rear and not being able to be as slow as I wanted to. When I watch it back I would stay behind the 5 if I could do it again. … Obviously, that one cost me more than what it was worth.”
Ross Chastain on his first-lap move at COTA: “That move was a bad move.” pic.twitter.com/yPudIOnUlx
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 8, 2025
As captured by Frontstretch, Chastain also noted he did talk about it with Elliott and “cleared the air. He said, “Bad decision to go inside the 5 after he went inside the 99. Wish I wouldn’t have did it. Told Chase that. Cleared the air there.”
.@RossChastain says he had time to review the incident with Chase Elliott on the first lap at COTA last week. #NASCAR
🎙️: @kevin_nix33 pic.twitter.com/ZtFTuqYn5E
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 8, 2025
What do you make of Chastain’s admission?