Ross Chastain assessed pass-through penalty after early pit stop at COTA

Ross Chastain made no friends on the track in the opening stages of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA, then he ran into trouble when hitting a pit stop just before the end of the first stage.

Chastain’s crew sent a man over the wall too soon, triggering a pass-through penalty that will send Chastain to the back of the pack.

That came just a few minutes after another noticeable incident with Ross Chastain on the track.

On the very first lap going into a sketchy Turn 1, Chastain got a bit aggressive and divebombed Chase Elliott right around the bend. It left Elliott spun around and having to wait until the traffic cleared before he could get back on the track.

Elliott was not happy with Ross Chastain, though he was initially a little confused about what happened.

Crew chief Alan Gustafson chimed in on the team’s radio, clearly not too happy with what Chastain had just done.

“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.”

Elliott wanted to make sure that Ross Chastain was fully at fault when he responded.

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

If Elliott is still out to get Chastain later in the race that’ll be something to watch out for. For now, the pass-through penalty should put Ross Chastain toward the rear and away from Elliott for the time being.

So far it’s been a mixed start to the season for Chastain.

He had a P40 finish at the Daytona 500, a forgettable result and certainly not what he would have been hoping for. But last week at Atlanta produced a P8 finish for Ross Chastain, a much more palatable result.

We’ll see how the rest of the day goes, but keep an eye out any time the No. 1 car comes near the No. 9.