Chase Elliott reacts to getting 'run over' by Ross Chastain early after wild day at COTA

The first corner of Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA brought along some fireworks between Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain.

Going into an already sketchy Turn 1, Chastain got aggressive and dive bombed Elliott who went spinning. Elliott, who rebounded to finish fourth, said after the race he “got run over” by Chastain, but doesn’t know yet if he did something wrong to cause the incident.

“Just a crazy day,” Elliott told Wendy Venturini of PRN. “Got run over in the first corner. I’m curious to see it, I still haven’t seen it, to know whether or not I did something wrong. Happy to own it, but it was the first corner of the first lap.”

Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson weren’t happy with Chastain after the early contact and vowed to get payback.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Gustafson said over the radio. “It’s just stupidity but you know, 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.”

“No, that’s totally fine. I’ll do what I need to do,” Elliott responded. “But I just need to make sure I wasn’t in the wrong before I do it.”

Chase Elliott rebounds from Lap 1 incident with Ross Chastain

Late in the third and final stage, Elliott had his chance to retaliate. But the Trackhouse Racing driver knew it was coming and got out of Elliott’s way on purpose, per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. Whereas Elliott spoke about the Lap 1 incident, Chastain did not. He declined comment after the race, Gluck said. Chastain finished P12.

Unfortunately for Elliott, the early contact with Chastain might have been the only thing that stopped him from taking his eighth checkered flag at a road course. He battled back throughout the next 94 laps, showing his speed on the final long run.

“We were rolling up there really good at the end,” Elliott said. “Obviously when you have a good car, you’d like to be in the fight, but it was a great recovery for where we were at the end of the second stage.”