Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain left the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday fuming with dissatisfaction. The reason behind his disappointment was a last-lap clash with William Byron. An untimely contact from the Hendrick Motrosports driver caused him to spin out and end his race in 32nd place instead of a potential top three finish.
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A few days have gone by since the heated moment but it doesn’t look like Chastain is still over it. Byron said in a recent interview that his counterpart hasn’t responded to his messages thus far. “We haven’t spoken yet. I reached out to him, but I’m sure we’ll get connected later this week,” he said.
Though Byron has been the one to reach out first, he does not think he was in the wrong at Texas. He continued, “Nothing really changes for me, my perspective. We just came together in a spot there. He was coming down the track to try to cover my run, and I was just making the corner exit like I anticipated him being where he would be on the exit.”
His contention is that incidents like these occur when racing on the last lap and Chastain would’ve done the same if their roles were reversed. He finished his race in 3rd place behind Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski. Regardless of their opinions, Byron hopes to have a conversation with Chastain soon and sort things out between them.
He concluded, “I think probably the timing and the momentum that I had was probably, maybe a little bit different than what he thought or something. I haven’t talked to him, so once we talk, we’ll discuss it and go from there.”
What Byron and Chastain said in Texas after the last-lap fiasco?
Walking out of their cars in the pit road, Chastain was in no mood to get in front of a camera. He politely declined interviews and walked out of the area. Byron, on the other hand, explained his dilemma to the press and expressed regret at having to spin out a fellow Chevrolet driver.
“I didn’t expect it, but I don’t want to do that to a fellow Chevy guy, and we always race really well,” he said, as reported by NBC Sports. It is no surprise that Chastain did not take well to getting wrecked considering the position that he is in. He is yet to find the victory lane this season and stands 10th on the points table.
