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Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron was involved in a last-lap incident with Ross Chastain at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. Byron recently revealed that he is yet to discuss the incident with Chastain, and is ready to put it in the past.
Chase Elliott took the white flag for the Cup race at Texas, with Chastain and Byron battling for second place on the final lap. Exiting Turn 2, the #1 Trackhouse Racing driver attempted to block the #24 HMS driver, leading to the contact. Chastain hit the outside barriers and was spun around.
William Byron was credited with a third-place finish, while Ross Chastain was classified 32nd. Following the incident in Texas, Byron disclosed that he made an attempt to reconcile with Chastain, but was unable to connect with him.
In a recent press conference, Byron elaborated on the incident, reiterating that his stance hasn't changed, as he believes it is a last-lap racing incident.
"We haven’t spoken yet," Byron said. "I reached out to him, but I’m sure we’ll get connected later this week. Nothing really changes for me, my perspective. We just came together in a spot there. He was coming down the track to try to cover my run, and I was just making the corner exit like I anticipated him being where he would be on the exit."
"It’s unfortunate, but it’s racing on the last lap, and I’m just going to do that at times probably to save that spot," he added/
When questioned about whether he would anticipate a similar outcome if the roles were reversed, William Byron replied in the positive. Byron clarified that Chastain probably was unaware of his closing speed, which led to the incident.
A look into William Byron's post-race comments on Ross Chastain incident
William Byron was apologetic in his post-race comments after making contact with Ross Chastain at Texas Motor Speedway.
The #24 Hendrick Motorsports driver mentioned in his post-race interview that the wreck was not intentional and he has always raced the Chevrolet driver Chastain well in the past.
Byron said (via motorsport.com):
"I just had a big run. Ross and I race really well, and I didn’t want to wreck him there, but he blocked me late, which is understood. It’s racing at the end, but I was already there and unfortunately, we made enough contact to where it got him squirrelly, and it happened."
"So, I hate that that happened, but it’s the last lap and I had the run so I am going to just take the run. I didn’t expect it, but I don’t want to do that to a fellow Chevy guy, and we always race really well," he added.
After losing out on a potential top-five result, Ross Chastain refused to comment on the last-lap incident in front of the media post-race.
