Chastain claimed the win after getting into it a bit
Ross Chastain got into AJ Allmendinger in the final overtime lap at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday and it helped the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro pull out his first career Cup Series win during the EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix.
It left his former teammate and mentor a bit peeved, though.
“Nope,” Allmendinger responded when asked by NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass if he expected anything different from Chastain. “No I didn’t. No I didn’t.”
Allmendinger did expand a bit.
“At the end of the day, like I said, you got to look at yourself in the mirror. If you are OK with it, you’re OK with it,” he added. “Every person is different so it doesn’t matter what I think.”
Would Allmendinger have handled it the same way?
“It doesn’t matter.”
The overtime featured four lead changes — Chastain and Allmendinger swapped it twice — but Chastain decided the event by causing Allmendinger to spin out. The move ultimately caused the No. 16 Chevrolet team to finish 33rd.
“I feel bad about AJ,” Chastain said, per NASCAR. “I mean, he’s gonna be upset with me but we raced hard and he owes me one.”