AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ross Chastain took ownership of initiating first-lap, first-turn contact with Chase Elliott during last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas, saying that the two drivers had spoken this week to discuss the incident.

Both drivers weighed in on the matter Saturday, on the eve of the Shriners Children’s 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Phoenix Raceway. Chastain acknowledged his miscue early in last week’s race, saying “wish I wouldn’t have did it and told Chase that and cleared the air there.”

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Chastain declined comment after the checkered flag last week, saying he wanted to watch a replay to see the incident more clearly before offering his perspective. Saturday at Phoenix, Chastain explained that his dive to the inside of Kyle Larson and Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez at the entry to COTA’s sharp, uphill Turn 1 was ill-conceived. The tight angle of entry caused his No. 1 Chevrolet to careen into the left-rear fender of Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, knocking him to the back of the pack.

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“It was an error,” Chastain said before Saturday’s Cup Series qualifying session. “When I went inside (Larson), I thought we were slow enough from the restart zone and that was not the case. I get to live with that, but from the outside, it doesn’t look good. The intention was … it was an error, a big error, to go bottom of five (wide). That was not necessary.”

Elliott was able to rally to a fourth-place finish in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, but only after a sizable comeback and a savvy pit strategy call that provided him with fresher tires for the stretch run. Elliott declined to comment on the nature of his conversation with Chastain, reiterating some of his post-race remarks from last weekend’s race.

“There’s not really a lot for me to comment on it. You know, I hate it happened,” Elliott said. “It’s easy for me to say that I wish it wasn’t on the first lap, which is true, but if that happens at any point in the race, you’re probably going to be bummed out about it. Like I said, I was really proud of our recovery and to be able to get back to where we were. I just hate we had to recover. I hate we had to do what we had to do. Our car was just … never drove like it did on Saturday, which was frustrating after that, but outside of that, I don’t really have a lot to comment on the situation.”

Elliott’s No. 9 team expressed its frustration immediately after the Lap 1 altercation, hinting that retribution later in the race would be appropriate. When Elliott charged through the field later in the race on newer Goodyear rubber, Chastain moved aside to give Elliott’s No. 9 Chevy a wide passage.

Chastain said he felt that move was also appropriate.

“Well, when he was spun, I would have swapped spots for them if I could’ve, because I had instantly hurt his day,” Chastain said, “and I just sat there like wishing it was the opposite and not trying to do any more damage, trying to get left as the whole field went by, it seemed like. But I just owed him that and more to let him have that spot. It’s one thing I have learned is it’s been done for me when I’ve been on the other side of it, and I’ve been on the receiving end earlier than those guys. Different guys in the series have shown me courtesy when I’m faster, when it’s really easy to air-block anymore. … I felt like I owed him that and more, because I instantly, effectively killed their day.”