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Rick Hendrick thinks Ross Chastain’s aggressive driving is ‘getting old’ after Goodyear 400

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated 6/16/23

Although his No. 24 car got to victory lane, Rick Hendrick has a lot to say about Ross Chastain for taking Kyle Larson out of contention. The NASCAR team owner is not a happy camper when it comes to the Chastain and Larson situation. To him, it is starting to get old, apparently.

When it comes down to it, having two Chevys putting each other into the wall week after week isn’t a good thing. They are manufactuer teammates, after all. However, there is something to be said about putting out a fun and entertaining race for fans.

Ross Chastain might not always make it fun for some, but it is entertaining. One guy that isn’t laughing or smiling though, is Rick Hendrick.

“He [Chastain] doesn’t have to be that aggressive,” Hendrick said when asked, via Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. “You just don’t run people up in the fence. … He’s got talent, but he’s making a lot of enemies out here. It’s really getting old with these guys.”

Rick Hendrick on Ross Chastain: "He doesn't have to be that aggressive. You just don't run people up in the fence. … He's got talent, but he's making a lot of enemies out here. It's really getting old with these guys." (via @dustinlong question)
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) May 14, 2023

Hendrick went on to say “If it doesn’t change, he’s [Chastain] going to have a hard time winning a championship,” via Chris Knight of Catchfence.

I think we heard this same thing last year, though. Ross Chastain happened to go to the Championship 4 and finished second overall in his first playoff appearance. Unless someone else gets aggressive on the track back, I’m not sure Mr. H has a point.

Ross Chastain blames himself for Kyle Larson incident

Now, remember back to Dover when Ross Chastain just dumped Brennan Poole and inadvertently took out Kyle Larson too? THAT was bad. This time, Chastain is fighting for position on a late restart and things go sideways. Is that hard racing? Is he refusing to give up when he should? I’m not entirely sure.

As far as Chastain himself is concerned, this one is on him again. He takes credit for his mistakes, but there are just so damn many of them that it is getting hard to accept the apologies at this point.

“Full commit into [Turn 1] and I got really tight and drove up and turned myself,” Chastain said after being released from the care center. “I wanted to squeeze him, I wanted to push him up. We had been trading 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.”

Larson went on to finish P20 after limping to the finish line. Ross Chastain was out of the race following the wreck. Another week another Chastain headline. I don’t see anyone trying to throw punches, though.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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