(Photo: Kevin Ritchie | The Podium Finish)
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ross Chastain found himself at the center of controversy once again while battling for the win in the closing laps at Darlington Raceway.
With six laps to go in the Goodyear 400, the Trackhouse Racing driver made an aggressive move on Kyle Larson in Turn 1 but drove into him and both hit the wall. Larson pushed Chastain’s sideways car down the backstretch out of frustration before finally dumping him into the wall and driving away. Both cars suffered heavy damage, but Larson managed to finish in 20th and on the lead lap. Chastain could not continue and finished 29th.
After the race, Chastain took full responsibility for the crash while speaking at the infield care center.
“Full commit into (turn) one. I got really tight, drove up and turned myself,” Chastain said. “I wanted to squeeze him, I wanted to push him up. We had been trading positions back and forth all day and I wanted to push him up, for sure, but definitely didn’t want to turn myself into the wall.”
According to reporters at the track, Larson immediately went to his hauler after the race and declined an interview.
It’s the second time in three weeks that Chastain and Larson have beefed on the track. Early in the race at Dover Motor Speedway, Chastain made an errant move while putting Brennan Poole a lap down and took out Larson in the process.
Chastain also made an aggressive move in NASCAR Overtime at Talladega Superspeedway, jumping three-wide on Noah Gragson and sending him spinning into the wall. Larson suffered massive damage in that crash when he got struck in the non-driver’s side door by Ryan Preece.
Last week, Chastain fought with Gragson on pit road after another on-track incident. Gragson felt he got squeezed out of room in the corner and hit the wall. He approached Chastain after the race and placed his hands on him and Chastain landed a punch out of self-defense.
Rick Hendrick, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said that he expects his drivers to hold their ground in future incidents with Chastain and that the Chevrolet ties don’t matter.
Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson battle late at Darlington. (Photo: Kevin Ritchie | The Podium Finish)
“I think you can ask any driver in here that he’s wrecked or been involved with him,” Hendrick said. “He doesn’t have to be that aggressive, and I guess at this point in the race maybe you’re super aggressive, but you just don’t run people up in the fence or just – he’s not going to — he’s going to make a lot of enemies. It’s hard to win a championship when you’ve got a lot of paybacks out there.
“I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevrolet if he wrecks our cars. I don’t care, and I told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back. If you don’t do it, they’ll run all over you. I’m loyal to Chevrolet, but when somebody runs over us, then I expect my guys to hold their ground. I’m not going to ask them to yield just because of Chevrolet.”
Chastain still managed to earn stage points — recording fourth-place points in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2. Martin Truex Jr. battled Chastain for the win in Stage 2 but made contact with the No. 1 car and spun himself, finishing 10th instead.
Chastain continues to lead Christopher Bell in driver’s points by 27. William Byron ended up winning the race in overtime — his third win of the season and his first since Phoenix Raceway.
