Chase Elliott 'feeling terrible' after St Louis incident

Hendrick Motorsports star Chase Elliott has admitted he feels terrible about wrecking a NASCAR rival in St Louis on Sunday.

Josh Berry headed into Sunday's Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway sitting bottom of the playoff standings and needing a strong result, having been caught up in a lap one wreck at Darlington in the playoff opener.

However, he only managed 37 laps this time around before he was tagged by Elliott in a racing incident in turn one, with the No. 21 Ford colliding with the barriers and suffering significant damage as a result.

After limping back to pit road, Wood Brothers Racing retired the car, with Berry forced to sit on the sidelines as his playoff rivals picked up valuable points.

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Chase Elliott issues Josh Berry apology

Speaking after the race, Elliott made it clear that he was not feeling good having been the driver to make contact with Berry, issuing an apology to his fellow playoff star.

“First off, just want to apologize to Josh and the 21 team,” Elliott told the media. “I had no intention of getting into him.

"I’ve known those guys my whole life, so I just hope that they at least know it wasn’t anything intentional, and I’ve known Josh for a long time, too. So just want to make sure those guys know that I feel terrible about that.

"Felt terrible about it right when it happened, and wish I could take it back. But yeah, unfortunately, that transpired, but beyond that, really proud of our effort.”

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Not intentional

When Berry himself spoke to the media during the race, he had already conceded that the incident had likely not been intentional on Elliott's part.

“It looked like Chase just made a late move and got a little loose and was just enough to slide up into us,” Berry explained. “I don’t think it was anything intentional by no means. Just an unfortunate scenario, I guess.”

Berry now heads into next weekend's playoff eliminator at Bristol Motor Speedway sitting 45 points below the Round of 12 cutoff line, most likely needing a win to progress.

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