NASCAR: Chase Elliott breaks silence on Kyle Busch incident

Chase Elliott finally spoke about Wednesday night’s crash involving himself and Kyle Busch during the Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

On what turned out to be the final green flag lap of Wednesday night’s Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Speedway, Kyle Busch turned Chase Elliott’s #9 Chevrolet into the inside retaining barrier on the front straightaway when attempting to slot himself between Elliott’s car and Kevin Harvick’s #4 Ford on the outside lane.

Elliott was in the catbird seat in terms of winning the race on new tires after making a pit stop during the caution flag period that took place before the incident. He restarted in sixth place and quickly worked his way up to third.

He was about to blow by Busch’s #18 Toyota for second place when the contact happened.

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Shortly thereafter, the rain began to fall. Given that the #11 Toyota of racer winner Denny Hamlin was also on older tires, this wreck effectively cost the 24-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native the win — with all other things remaining constant, of course.

Busch, who has made many enemies on the track over the years, apologized multiple times for the incident and maintained that he had made a misjudgment and not intentionally wrecked Elliott because he couldn’t beat him otherwise, which is what many of the camera angles indicate on the surface.

But aside of his his middle finger salute to Busch as his unscathed #18 Toyota drove past the wreckage, Elliott had been silent about the matter. He was not interviewed immediately after the race.

Busch stated publicly yesterday that he and Elliott had talked it over. Here is what he had to say, according to NBC Sports.

"“Yes, Chase and I talked and it went really well. He’s a class act, we’ve all seen that. So, the conversation overall was good.”"

Now Elliott himself has officially broken his silence, both by expressing his frustration at the situation and acknowledging that he believes Busch is telling the truth about his mistake being nothing more than a mistake.

Here is what he had to say, according to Motorsport.

"“It was the closing laps and we were battling for the win. We talked about it, and like I told him, I don’t think he wrecked me on purpose. I think he was trying to make a spot that wasn’t there. Much like I told him, I get that mistakes happen, that’s part of life. He’s just not a guy that makes many mistakes. For me to be on the poor end of a rare mistake is unfortunate for me and my team. Just hated it was me that took the blow.”"

He added that he has no regrets about giving Busch the middle finger.

Whether or not there will be any sort of retaliation by Chase Elliott against Kyle Busch, only Elliott knows. The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 24.