Chase Elliott had a telling response to a question he received Sunday after his disappointing 28th-place finish at Phoenix Raceway in the final race of the season.
The Championship 4 contender was spun out by Ross Chastain on lap 200 of the race. Elliott had to pit to repair the No. 9 Chevrolet, setting him a lap behind his competition.
Elliott never made up the lost ground and finished last among the Championship 4 contenders.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver was asked in a post-race interview with NBC how he saw the incident with Chastain. Elliott was nonplussed by the question. He paused for a few seconds and decided to ignore the matter and instead praise Joey Logano for the win.
It was evident that Elliott had no interest in discussing the matter. Further, he did not seem impressed by Chastain’s explanation that the No. 1 car already had position.
“I feel like I had position on him and he tried to cover it late,” Chastain said of the incident with Elliott.
Chastain drew all sorts of headlines and attention for his ballsy maneuver at Martinsville last weekend to qualify for the Championship 4. But that doesn’t change that he still has plenty of enemies over his driving style. Still, it’s hard to blame him for the incident and his decision not to lift.