Chase Elliott has built his reputation on consistency, making Saturday’s disaster at Richmond Raceway all the more shocking. The No. 9 driver endured his first DNF at the track while battling teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson for the regular season championship.
The disappointing finish grabbed headlines, but Elliott’s heated exchange with NASCAR officials over a controversial penalty sparked even more debate. The Hendrick Motorsports driver didn’t hold back in defending his actions, calling the situation “unfortunate” rather than intentional.
What Exactly Happened During Chase Elliott’s Pit Road Penalty?
The race started calmly enough for the penultimate round of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season. Then chaos erupted as three quick cautions created a massive 13-car pileup that changed everything.
Just one lap into the third restart, Chase Briscoe dove to the inside of Larson but had to check up, sliding into Kyle Busch’s lane. This move sent the No. 19 driver spinning across the tightly packed frontstretch. Elliott initially avoided the mayhem before disaster struck when he collided with the No. 8 Chevrolet, ending his day in the Turn 4 wall.
However, the real controversy came during the yellow flag period after Lap 74. NASCAR penalized Elliott for vehicle interference when his No. 9 car clipped Briscoe’s pit box while entering pit road. The penalty sent him to the back of the field, essentially ending any championship hopes.
“It seems like that has happened a lot lately,” Elliott reacted to the incident post-race. “It’s a really tough position especially when you’re directly behind the car that is spinning right behind your stall because the front tire carriers are carrying two tires and you get in a position where it’s like, if I get too far or to the right, I’m going to be stopped and now he’s not going to be able to get out of his box, right?”
Elliott made it clear to Bob Pockrass that his actions weren’t intentional or malicious. The 2020 Cup Series champion explained his reasoning behind the controversial maneuver.
“Obviously, I’m not trying to hit his guys. I’d never intentionally do that or try and make them get further left. That’s not my intent at all. I don’t want to get in a position where I’m angled so far in that now I’ve locked him in, and we have a bad angle for our stop,” Elliott said.
“All I was trying to do was just take as much room as I could to get back straight and not cause another issue at the end of the pit stop, but it wasn’t. It was nothing beyond that. I have to go back and watch it, obviously, I got too aggressive, but it was an unfortunate situation,” the champion concluded.
MORE: Chase Elliott Clears Kyle Busch of Blame After Richmond’s Multi-Car Pileup
Elliott’s frustration stems from Richmond’s notoriously narrow pit lane, where tight stalls force team crews to navigate carefully during stops. Even the most experienced drivers struggle with the track’s pit road configuration.
This isn’t Elliott’s first battle with Richmond’s challenging pit setup. He faced similar issues in 2023 at Phoenix when Byron boxed him in, and again earlier this year at Martinsville when tight quarters created problems.
With Elliott crashing out of contention, Byron clinched the regular season title and earned 15 crucial playoff points for the championship chase.