The Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway last Sunday saw a chain-reaction crash on lap 217 after Joey Logano triggered an incident during a restart that collected several cars. One of the drivers caught up in the crash was Ross Chastain, whom Logano tapped on the rear bumper, sending him spinning.
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Anthony Alfredo, Bubba Wallace, and even Logano’s teammate Austin Cindric were also involved. Cindric took the brunt of the impact, slamming into the wall and coming to a halt, while Chastain’s car also suffered significant damage.
The No. 1 Chevrolet limped to pit road with steering issues and visible damage, forcing the crew to roll up their sleeves for repairs. After spending time in the garage, the car eventually returned to the track. Chastain stayed in the race until the end, though he crossed the line in 28th place, 26 laps behind race winner Ryan Blaney.
Chastain, however, chose not to carry a grudge. Speaking to reporters ahead of the race weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a scrum interview, he said the two drivers settled the talk soon after the race ended.
He said, “Yeah, I got a bad restart, in my opinion, and then he got a run and ran into the back bumper.”
“But we talked. He gave me a call. Joey and I have a good working relationship on track. We’re very alike. Like, I’ve studied him throughout my career before I got to Cub and when I got here and tried to be like him. He’s not that much older than me, but has so much experience in some of the things he does behind the wheel.
“So, we have a good relationship, and that was just a bad deal, but we’re fine. We had a good conversation on Monday,” Chastain added.
Ross Chastain says Joey Logano gave him a call on Monday following their accident at Phoenix that Logano was contrite over causing. Ross says he and Logano have a good working relationship and “We’re fine. Totally good.”
Ross now has a hole to dig out of at 23rd in points, so we… pic.twitter.com/P0cXq0k95K
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Logano also owned up to the moment, saying the restart happened with little room to spare, and the space on the track vanished in a blink. Yet, he mentioned, “I hate that I got on the Ross. tried to, he had a good run there to try to slip him, and he kind of anticipated, he went down to the bottom, and we got into each other, and just ended up spending it much like me, too, so, it’s not the greatest of days.”
Joey Logano on the Lap 217 crash:
“I hate that I got into Ross… I had a good run to try to slip him. He anticipated it, went down to the bottom, we got into each other, and it ended up spinning us.”#NASCAR
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While Logano escaped that crash, trouble came knocking again. On lap 254, contact with AJ Allmendinger entering Turn 1 sparked another wreck that wiped out the No. 22 car. The crash pulled in Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Josh Berry, and Shane van Gisbergen.
Chastain, meanwhile, kept his car circulating after repairs. By staying on track until the end, he became the last car still running and picked up a handful of points over drivers who saw their day end before the finish.
