Sure, Kyle Busch was out of contention for the win on the final laps at Sonoma, but finishing in the top five would be no problem, especially after an unusually tough season.
And then Ross Chastain snatched a coveted fifth place from under the #8 driver’s nose with a heartbreaking spin.
Busch was certainly annoyed to have to settle for a disappointing 12th place finish, to say the least, but he was happy to see an unexpected challenger get his revenge in the final corner.
The next day, fans noticed a certain Chase Elliott donning the mantle of “Karma” and passing Chastain the old-fashioned way.
Without Elliott, Chastain might have even made it onto the podium. However, with third-placed Chris Buescher a little ahead of those two and battling for fourth, it may have been a stretch, but in theory it could have been accomplished quite easily.
Did Chase Elliott deliver “Justice” on Ross Chastain after Atlanta wreck?
The final lap under the white flag saw some big action around the top five.
First, Martin Truex Jr. ran out of gas while battling for the win with Kyle Larson, and Michael McDowell finished the race in 27th place. MTJ fixed the problem and earned his first runner-up finish in the Cup Series.
Chris Buescher came in third, marking his third podium at Sonoma in 2024. And of course, Kyle Busch missed the top five entirely after Melon Man got a little too aggressive in fifth place.
But if MTJ was out of the race and Busch was already out of the way, then that technically means Chastain should have finished fourth, right? Not true, because Larson’s Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott started from seventh and passed the No. 1 Trackhouse Chevrolet in the final corner.
If that wasn’t enough, Elliott pushed his rear bumper, pushing Chastain out of the way, where he tumbled off the grid and landed in fourth place.
Some would argue that Chastain really needed a top-five and that the spot difference wasn’t much of a difference.
But Chase is already heading to the playoffs thanks to a win he got at Texas earlier in the season, while Chastain is coming off his second top-five at Sonoma in 2024.
The “Melon Man” is just 73 points above the cut line at the moment. Interestingly, his Mexican teammate Daniel Suarez also qualified for the postseason thanks to a memorable three-way win at Atlanta.
That same weekend, Chastain finished seventh but made headlines for knocking out local hero Chase Elliott in the closing stages of the Am Better Health 400 in Atlanta. Many argued that Elliott had “karma” because teammate William Byron blocked the Melon Man last weekend at Daytona, taking him out of contention for his first win at the season-opening, prized racetrack.
Nevertheless, fans seem to be pitted against Ross Chastain this weekend, hailing Chase Elliott as Kyle Busch’s unlikely hero coming out of Sonoma.
Fans believe it is Kyle Busch’s revenge instead
While FOX cameras focused on celebrating Kyle Larson’s victory with his crew chief, NASCAR shared the thrilling final lap action captured from Chase Elliott’s #9 car on their official social media channels, a day later.
The video shows a traditional “trademark bump-and-run” performed to the T on Ross Chastain’s rear bumper off Turn 11.
This led many fans to believe Elliott acted as the hand of vengeance on the perpetrator of Kyle Busch’s disappointments driving scot-free in front of his own car.
Something like NASCAR’s very own ‘Batman,’ as this fan rightfully commented, “Bro saw what he did to Kyle and said not on his watch.” Others opined “Chastain can hardly complain when he did far worse to get past Busch.”
The punishment, if it can even be called such was well executed, and this comment aptly explained the reasons for that sentiment: “Karma caught Ross after dumping Busch a few corners earlier.”
However, many called for realism on the issue stating “Chase saw Ross use up Kyle, he was like I’m gonna get mine now.”
But one fan brought up a glaring grievance as they wrote, “Pretty sad we are just now seeing this a day later. I’m sure all of the fans would’ve loved this.”
And that is how one of the most overlooked incidents of the 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350 turned out. Let us know your thoughts on the whole situation in the comments section below.
