Ross Chastain claims another victim.
The Trackhouse Racing driver has turned heads over the past couple of years for his aggressive driving style, which earned him two wins and a second place finish in the final standings last year, but has also made him plenty of enemies along the way.
There was his well-publicized feud with Denny Hamlin last year after the two went back and forth during the race in St. Louis, and even the mild-mannered Aric Almirola had some harsh words for Chastain after a run-in last summer at Atlanta:
Well it seems Chastain has no interest in changing up his style.
Last week at Talladega, an aggressive move by Chastain set of a wreck that ended up taking out several drivers, including massive hits for Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece.
And we’re only in the first stage of today’s rain-delayed race at Dover, but Chastain’s already claimed another victim – and once again took out Kyle Larson in the aftermath.
On lap 81, Chastain was running 4th when he got into the slower car of Brennan Poole, who had just been put a lap down to the leaders. The bump from Chastain sent the #15 of Poole spinning down the track before sliding back up and directly into the path of an oncoming Larson, who had one of the fastest cars of the race.
Larson had some harsh words for Chastain on the radio after the wreck, calling him a “f*cking idiot” for pulling a move like that and being so aggressive in just the first stage of the race.
And Poole also had some thoughts on Chastain’s aggressiveness during his interview after exiting the car:
“I felt like I just got ran over for no reason 80 laps into the race. Doesn’t make any sense to me but I guess that’s something he’s been known to do here recently. Probably needs to get his butt whooped.”
Even Alex Bowman, who’s out for 3-4 weeks following a fractured vertebra suffered during a sprint car crash last week, weighed in on Chastain’s move on Twitter:
Chastain not making any friends out there on the track.
