Doesn’t even wanna talk about it.
The rivalry between Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain has been heating up, going all the way back to the end of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
During the final race of the season at Phoenix, Blaney was hoping to secure his first Cup Series championship. But Chastain didn’t make it easy on him.
Chastain, who has a reputation for being an aggressive driver, didn’t cut Blaney any slack despite the fact that Ryan was running for a championship and Ross wasn’t.
Ryan Blaney is not happy with Ross Chastain and uses his bumper to show his displeasure.
Chastain is not in the playoffs, while Blaney is racing for a championship. pic.twitter.com/szeE3XdFK2
— Always Race Day (@AlwaysRaceDay) November 5, 2023
And Blaney was none too happy with the way Chastain blocked him:
Ryan Blaney might be leading the championship battle but, needless to say, he's not happy with Ross Chastain. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bmrfuT1mLt
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) November 5, 2023
Chastain would go on to win the race, while Blaney won the championship, so in the end everybody walked away happy.
But NASCAR drivers have long memories, and the simmering tension between the two flared up again just three races into the 2024 season.
During the race at Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, Blaney once again expressed his frustration over the radio with how Ross was racing him.
"Tell that dumbf*ck to be smart. What a d*ck" Blaney says of Ross Chastain, who barely cleared the No. 12 car off Turn 4.#NASCAR
— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) March 3, 2024
And at the end of the race, with Blaney in 3rd and Chastain in 4th, Blaney was throwing blocks on Chastain to keep him behind him – something that wasn’t lost on Chastain after the race.
While speaking with the media, Chastain had some sarcastic comments for Blaney after his complaints about Ross blocking him last season:
“It was pretty cool to see Blaney blocking me at the end. Pretty cool to see his evolution with the air blocking. I was proud of him.”
Ross Chastain, when talking about the final 20 laps, couldn’t help himself to mention that Ryan Blaney was blocking him (remember Phoenix)? Chastain: “It was pretty cool to see his evolution with the air blocking. I was proud of him.” pic.twitter.com/5VNhjQLkpw
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 4, 2024
For his part, Blaney took the subtle jab in stride, responding with a meme on Twitter pointing out the irony:
https://t.co/Ae3q453b3q pic.twitter.com/DOsuToCv9s
— Ryan Blaney (@Blaney) March 4, 2024
But it didn’t seem like this one was over – and the two had yet another run-in yesterday during a wild race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Tires were a major issue during the race, with drivers only being able to run about 40 laps on their tires before they would blow out or become so worn that the cars couldn’t stay pointed in the right direction.
With the cars being so on edge, that made for some close racing – and rubbing – which was nice to see after a few snoozers with this new short track package. But Ryan Blaney ended up on the wrong end of some of that rubbing when he once again saw Ross Chastain in his rearview mirror.
Chastain bumped into Blaney while trying to pass him, and the contact sent Blaney up the track and out of the racing groove. And even NASCAR on Fox commentator Mike Joy joked about the incident:
“Blaney got Chastain’d.”
Again.
But Blaney had no interest in talking about it after the race.
Clearly frustrated with Ross and sick of talking about, Blaney refused to answer any questions about the run-in during a postrace interview with Frontstretch:
“I’m tired of you asking me Ross questions. No thanks.”
"I'm tired of you asking me Ross questions. No thanks."@Blaney was fed up from hearing questions about @RossChastain after another run in at Bristol.
📹: @AlexGintz1 pic.twitter.com/OrCEva18kp
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 17, 2024
Doesn’t sound like Blaney’s going to be cutting Ross any breaks on the track any time soon – and we know Ross doesn’t cut anybody any breaks. So this should be a fun one to watch in the future.
