NASCAR: One question needs to be asked about Ross Chastain

Ross Chastain secured his first NASCAR Cup Series victory after late contact with A.J. Allmendinger, and it didn’t go over well with everybody.

Following three straight top three finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, and Atlanta Motor Speedway, Ross Chastain secured the first victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career — and the first victory for Trackhouse Racing Team — on Sunday afternoon at Circuit of the Americas.

The 29-year-old Alva, Florida native delivered the Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned team their first win following a thrilling last-lap battle with Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger.

But Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing didn’t exactly see it that way.

Chastain took the white flag ahead of Allmendinger, and he maintained the lead throughout the first part of lap 69 around the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) road course in Austin, Texas.

But going into turn 15, Allmendinger moved Chastain’s #1 Chevrolet out of the way and took the lead.

Sitting in third place was Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman. Bowman watched as the #1 Chevrolet and the #16 Chevrolet battled for the lead through turns 16, 17 and 18.

For a moment, it looked as though Bowman was going to “back into” another win.

But with Bowman making a move on the outside, Chastain and Allmendinger made more contact going into turn 19. Contact to the rear of Allmendinger’s #16 Chevrolet from Chastain’s #1 Chevrolet sent Allmendinger into Bowman’s #48 Chevrolet.

Chastain made it through, and despite the unexpected contact from Allmendinger, Bowman did so as well, though he did have to take a rather interesting long route. He settled for second place behind Chastain.

But Allmendinger did not make it through, and he had to settle for 33rd place.

Allmendinger and the Kaulig Racing team clearly weren’t too pleased with the move afterward.

Take a look at how it all unfolded.

https://twitter.com/NASCARONFOX/status/1508222978559033345

Many have criticized Chastin for “dumping” Allmendinger, whereas Allmendinger simply “moved” Chastain out of the way a few corners earlier. However, the replay brings to the forefront one key question.

Would the same thing have happened to Allmendinger had Bowman not been there?

Of course, Bowman is not to blame for how the race ended; he was, quite literally, an innocent bystander as Chastain and Allmendinger made contact, and he was fortunate not to get caught up in the mess to a greater extent.

But had Bowman’s car not been where it was, would Chastain’s contact to Allmendinger’s car really have “dumped” him?

It really doesn’t look as though Chastain dumped Allmendinger at all. It was the contact between Allmendinger and Bowman that got the #16 Chevrolet all out of whack.

Had Bowman’s car not been there, it appears as though Allmendinger would have been able to keep his car straight and continue to battle with Chastain through the final two corners of the race.

Conversely, had Chastain not hit Allmendinger hard enough to get into Bowman, Bowman would have blown past both of them and “backed into” another win, as some would say, to become the first two-race winner of the year.

Regardless, the idea that Chastain flat-out wrecked Allmendinger for the win simply doesn’t fit what actually went down.