Elliott, Chastain sidelined for NASCAR All Star final segment by wrecks

Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race lost two all-star drivers before the main event even began.

Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain were knocked out of the event due to crashes in the first two segments. Elliott was involved in two separate incidents in the first 75-lap segment. Chastain was involved in a crash in the second segment.

Due to the format for this year’s event, all entered cars were on track together for the festivities. The first two segments, which would have been the All-Star Open in previous years, were to determine who advanced into the final segment for the All-Star Race prize.

The first multicar crash that collected Elliott occurred on the second lap as the field went into Turn 1. It started when Kyle Larson, Todd Gilliland and Ryan Preece came together.

It was with six laps to go in the stage that finished Elliott off. The multicar crash occurred when Alex Bowman got into a loose Riley Herbst coming off Turn 4.

“It certainly has been, for sure,” said Elliott when asked about his adventurous day. “At least from where I was at, it was pretty wild. I hate to get caught up in that; I knew better. I saw it getting crazy and I should have bailed. But there were a lot of different strategies going on, guys trying to better their spot, I guess, for the break and the invert.

“I saw them crashing and tried to get checked up, and the straightaway has so much banking, everything kind of slides to the bottom, and unfortunately, that’s where I was at. I don’t know. We’ll try again, go to Charlotte, and have a better week there.”

Chastain crashed on the backstretch with Brad Keselowski. The incident, on lap six of the second segment, also collected Bubba Wallace.

“It knocked the front clip off of it, so bummer because I thought we executed that first stage really well,” Chastain said. “We weren’t passing anybody, really, by any means, but we were able to maintain, which has not been the case with this downforce package at Bristol.

“For the Busch Light Chevy, (crew chief) Brandon McSwain, it is steps ahead. The car drove a lot better than Bristol, so a lot to look forward to if we can take another step like that in the next one.”

With the loss of Elliott and Chastain, it opened two additional spots in the All-Star Race for drivers who were not locked in to advance.