Ross Chastain was sitting in the sixth position with 96 circuits remaining in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix. On a lap 217 restart, the Trackhouse Racing driver got a bump from behind by Joey Logano.
The contact loosened up Chastain’s No. 1 car, and when Logano tried to avoid in his No. 22 machine, the two came together again. This sparked a vicious three-car crash involving Chastain, Anthony Alfredo, and Austin Cindric.
Logano avoided the wreck, but Chastain wasn’t as fortunate. Although he managed to finish the race, Chastain posted a 28th-place finish when the checkered flag flew.
After the dust settled in the desert, Logano took the blame for Sunday’s pileup. In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Chastain gave his side of the story.
Ross Chastain on Joey Logano incident: ‘Don’t believe it was malicious’
Chastain couldn’t nail down restarts in last Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500. In the lap 217 restart, the Florida native again couldn’t get going, which put him in the clutches of Logano.
“He [Logano] timed it well. … He just got me right at the transition. I don’t believe it was malicious. He was trying to go to the left. I was also going to the left to take the shortest distance to turn one and got me right at as the rear bottoms out on that transition,” Chastain said.
Despite both drivers being known for their aggressive driving style, there weren’t any hard feelings after Phoenix.
That’s due in part to the connection established between the two drivers. Because of their driving styles, Chastain felt it was incumbent upon he and Logano to be on the same page when worse came to worst.
“We’re so alike. We don’t get along well on tracks, so we have just an understanding. We’ve figured out that if we don’t do this in a working way, it’s going to be brutal for both of us. We’ve had some crazy blocks thrown on us throughout the years. … We’ve got a lot better working relationship now,” Chastain said.
Logano’s Phoenix race didn’t pan out how he hoped either. On lap 254, the three-time Cup Series champion was clipped by AJ Allmendinger on the frontstretch. The contact sent Logano spinning.
The Team Penske driver proceeded to slide up the track and into the path of Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, and others. Logano wound up posting a DNF in the 31st position.
Ross Chastain enters Las Vegas 23rd in the standings
While Chastain has shown speed through the first four races of the season, it hasn’t translated to great results.
The six-time Cup Series winner is currently 23rd in the points standings. The 33-year-old posted a third-place finish at EchoPark Speedway. Aside from that, Chastain has failed to post another top-10.
Chastain finished 20th in the Daytona 500, 35th at Circuit of The Americas, and 28th at Phoenix. He enters Las Vegas looking for his first win since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte last May.
Chastain is amid his fifth season with Trackhouse Racing. He’s won all six of his career Cup races with the organization.