Kyle Busch puts Ross Chastain into the wall late in Stage 1 at Talladega

As Stage 1 was coming to an end, Kyle Busch got into the wall, then he came down and into Ross Chastain, putting him into the wall, too. Talladega is doing Talladega things early. Busch, once again, lost control and on the bounce, Chastain was in the wrong place at the wrong time. NASCAR Playoffs continue to be chaos.

I don’t think Ross Chastain could have done anything to avoid this. Busch hit the wall in the third lane, then tried to come back down as the second groove moved up to take that empty space, and Chastain was right there. If it wasn’t Chastain, it would have been someone else.

Busch takes some damage, but the real damage was done to Chastain’s car. He’s likely a DNF on the day. Both drivers are fighting for a spot in the Round of 8.

The wreck was apparently due to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. losing fuel and slowing up on the track. Bad luck for Busch and Ross Chastain.

TROUBLE for Ross Chastain! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/8tnXbL9y2b

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 1, 2023

“Nothing personal with it,” Chastain said after the incident.

As far as the Roval? Ross Chastain doesn’t know what to expect but knows his team is going to bring him fast Chevy Camaros.

“Left and rights and living our dream so whatever our team, whatever we bring next week we’ll put our best foot forward.”

Right now, this race looks really good for the Fords and the Hendrick Motorsports group is doing very well in the early going at Talladega. Don’t forget about the Toyotas. They seem to be buying their time until the moment is right.

Ross Chastain will likely drop in playoff standings

Of course, the bigger story here is the effect that this will have on the playoff standings. Ross Chastain is not going to be doing too well heading into the Roval. We don’t know if he has to win that race, but he was only 10 points above the cutline to start with.

This is basically like the Kansas race for Martin Truex Jr. He’s going to be dead last in the race and his fellow playoff drivers will simply pick points up as he sits on the sideline. Not ideal for the Trackhouse Racing driver.

If Chastain has to win next weekend, it will be hard. However, we saw Christopher Bell do it last year. He had a walk-off win at the Roval. He did it again at Martinsville. Chastain might have to pull out another clutch performance for this season’s playoffs.

Will Ross Chastain be in “must-win” territory at the Charlotte Roval?