Chase Elliott arrived at Richmond last weekend riding a record, no DNFs through the first 24 races of 2025 and a streak that stretched back to the final three events of last season, making it 27 consecutive starts without an early exit. He had also strung together 23 straight top-20 finishes to open the year, a run that snapped at Watkins Glen with a P26 result. At Richmond however, Kyle Busch ended his spotless DNF streak.
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The trouble began when Chase Briscoe checked up on a restart, slid into Busch’s lane, and ignited a 12-car pileup on the front stretch. Elliott, running just behind, believed he could steer clear of the chaos. But Busch, apparently unaware of his position, clipped the No. 9’s rear bumper while working through the mess, sending Elliott hard into the wall and ending his night.
Despite the setback, Elliott harbored no resentment toward Busch. He said that “Kyle did reach out to me. He apologized for what happened. I don’t have any differing opinion on it. I was never mad at him. I knew it was a mistake right when I saw it. It sucks and I hate it.
“It obviously killed our night and our regular-season championship hopes, kind of all at the same time. But I knew it was nothing that he (Busch) did on purpose. It wasn’t anything aimed at us. It was just the way that it all went down, and unfortunately, we were on the bad end of it…
“He didn’t realize we were all coming by down there on the bottom. Obviously, he just got through the wreck like a lot of us who had kind of been in it.”
Chase Elliott said today that Kyle Busch reached out to apologize for the contact that ended Elliott’s race and regular season title hopes that Richmond. Seems like Kyle was just getting his bearings and didn’t realize other cars were coming through on the bottom.
Chase said he… pic.twitter.com/2THFcqsuxI
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) August 19, 2025
Elliott finished last in the 38-car field, marking his second straight result outside the top-20. Entering Saturday, he had completed all but one lap this season, the lone blemish being a one-lap deficit at Bristol.
Elliott entered Richmond second in the Cup standings and 42 points behind William Byron. After the wreck, his hopes of clawing back the regular-season title at this Saturday’s Daytona finale were as good as over.
