(Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
DOVER, Del. — Ross Chastain accepted the blame for causing a crash that took out Brennan Poole and Kyle Larson early in Monday’s Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway.
Eighty-one laps into the rescheduled 400-lapper, Chastain bumped into Poole’s slower No. 15 car down the frontstretch and sent him sliding into Turn 1. Kyle Larson, who said that he had already committed to the top line, had nowhere to go when Poole slid back up the track. Both Poole and Larson suffered heavy damage; Poole did not finish the race.
The No. 5 team made repairs on Larson’s car and he got back on track to meet minimum speed. He then returned to the garage for more extensive repairs and finished the race in 32nd, 41 laps off the pace.
Poole, who finished 33rd in his first Cup Series race since 2020, felt that he got run over by Chastain.
“I just kind of got shoved into the corner, like, way too deep, and then I was just immediately turned around,” Poole said. “I think it was the No.1? Go figure. I mean, just a joke… eighty-something laps into a race? No reason. I was side-by-side with the No. 3, just got to the outside and it’s not like I can go anywhere or give him any more room than what I had. He just ran me over. So, it’s kind of pathetic. I don’t know. It seems to be something Ross [Chastain] does a lot recently.”
Chastain immediately took the blame for the incident, keying up on the radio and accepting fault. Following his second-place finish, Chastain reaffirmed that it wasn’t intentional.
“It was completely my fault,” Chastain told Marty Czekala of ROC Sports Network and Race Pro Weekly. “I was just actually going to follow Brennan [Poole] past [Austin Dillon] and he just checked up quicker than I thought and I got into him. Totally my fault. Tomorrow, I go out to Sonoma with Skip Barber [Racing School], and when I get home from that, I’ll find [Poole] and Rick [Ware, owner] and make some of that right.”
Brennan Poole’s No. 15 car is towed away. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Larson, who has two wins this season despite just four top 10s, crashed for the third time in four weeks.
“It seemed like Ross just kind of got in a hurry there,” Larson told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. “That was the middle of the first stage. To make an error like that — and his errors never affect him negatively.
“I just hope our luck turns around soon. We have the fastest car every damn weekend and it doesn’t seem to work out.”
While Chastain battled Martin Truex Jr. for the win in the closing laps, Larson slowed in front of Chastain and cost the No. 1 car about a second. When asked by reporters about the obstruction, Chastain declined to comment.
“You can take it for whatever it might be,” Larson said.
A caution came out with 14 laps to go to nullify the field and set up a seven-lap dash to the finish. Chastain pitted and elected to take four tires while Truex took just two. Chastain lined up for the restart fourth but couldn’t track down Truex, who won for the first time in 54 races.
“Phil [Surgen, crew chief] asked me what I thought and that was my vote,” Chastain said of his team’s late strategy. “I just needed a few more laps or it to turn. We freed it up but not quite enough.”
