Ross Chastain entered the final lap with a one-point lead on Joey Logano for the final transfer spot but it was Logano who advanced at the Charlotte Roval.
CONCORD, N.C. — His tires smoking as he drove backward across the finish line, Ross Chastain saw his playoff hopes pass him by.
“I knew,” he said.
Chastain led Joey Logano by one point entering the final lap of Sunday’s Cup playoff elimination race at the Charlotte Roval but that changed in Turn 7 of the 17-turn, 2.28-mile course.
Denny Hamlin got underneath Chastain’s car in the hairpin corner and passed him.
“(Hamlin) wasn’t even close to me and I downshifted unnecessarily into first (gear) to make sure I turned the corner and I slipped the rear (tires) and let him drive right by me,” Chastain said.
That put Chastain and Logano in a tie for the final transfer spot. Logano owned the tiebreaker.
Chastain had to pass Hamlin to remain in the playoffs. Going through the frontstretch chicane (turns 16 and 17), Chastain made a desperate move that turned both him and Hamlin shortly before the finish line.
“He’s wrecking, he’s wrecking, he’s wrecking,” spotter Coleman Pressley told Logano on the team’s radio about Chastain.
“He’s middle of the track. He’s middle of the track. Stay on track. Stay low. Stay low. Stay low. Throttle up. Throttle up. Throttle up.”
Alex Bowman drove by Chastain and Hamlin. Chastain stuck his car in reverse and tried to go backward across the finish line as fast as he could but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. passed and then Logano beat him to the line.
“All right, good job,” Pressley told Logano after he crossed the finish line.
“Holy (expletive),” Logano responded. “Way to make it through boys.”
The finish marked the end of Chastain’s playoffs.
Chastain parked his car near Hamlin’s on pit road and sat in it for a few minutes before emerging. Car owner Justin Marks came by and offered his driver a few words.
“He thanked me,” Chastain said. “I said, ‘Don’t thank me now. I need a minute.’”
Chastain was frustrated that he was out of the playoffs because of three errors he made, including the Turn 7 move on the last lap. The other two mistakes were on pit road.
Chastain finished the first stage in fifth place. He pitted during the stage break but as he exited, he swung wide for the left-hand turn at the end of pit road and had to stop to avoid hitting a wall. That allowed several cars to pass. Chastain fell to 30th.
He worked his way back to finish fourth in stage 2. Pit road problems returned when he was caught for speeding on Lap 87 of the 109-lap race. He had been eighth before pitting and fell to 24th after serving his penalty.
“I single-handedly took a car out of the round of 8,” Chastain said.
Chastain then offered an apology for that final lap.
“I’m sorry to Denny,” Chastain said. “I’m sorry to JGR and his whole team. They were definitely innocent bystanders.”
Hamlin’s frustrations after the race was more directed at his team than Chastain.
“Truthfully, I wish I would have just known what the last-lap scenario was and then I make the best decision I can for me,” Hamlin said. “No one told me anything. I absolutely had no idea. Truthfully, I didn’t know if I was racing for 25th or 10th. I had no idea of my position. … I didn’t know (Chastain) was desperate. I wish I would have.”
When it was suggested it would have been best for Hamlin not to pass Chastain so Chastain would have advanced instead of Logano due to Team Penske winning the championship the last three years, Hamlin said had he known the situation on that last lap, “I would have made the best decision for me.”
It’s moot. Instead, it was Logano celebrating — nearly as much as winner Shane van Gisbergen.
A year ago, Logano left Charlotte Motor Speedway having been eliminated from the playoffs — only to be reinstated when Bowman’s car failed inspection. That put Logano back in the playoffs and set him up to win his third title.
This time, Logano’s trip home was different.
While there was a disqualification Sunday night, it was to the car of Riley Herbst for failing to meet minimum weight requirement and didn’t impact the playoff race.
Logano’s focus remains on a fourth Cup title this season.
“We’re a dangerous team,” he said. “Anything can happen with us. We’re just a bunch of scrappers. We just keep grinding away.
“It’s the way we operate. We just keep going and going and trying to stay alive.”
Category: General Sports
