Angry Fans Call Out Ross Chastain’s “PR Move” as Watermelon Man Sets Aside Denny Hamlin Rivalry for a Show of Sportsmanship

Regardless of whether he wins or not, Ross Chastain is consistently in the headlines every week. Of course, mostly it is because of his notorious reputation for hitting other drivers on the track and compromising their races. But sometimes, it’s because of what happens off track.

And on very rare occasions, it’s a mix of both, like we saw in Kansas.

The biggest Chastain related story from the recent race, which is arguably the biggest story from the race itself, was the #1 driver getting in a physical altercation with rookie Noah Gragson.

As it turns out, Gragson wasn’t happy with the way Chastain raced him (surprise), so he went to confront him in the pit lane and then followed a rare occurrence in modern day NASCAR.

Yes, the old school way of ‘confronting’ another driver. Grabbing someone, pushing them, and landing a punch. It had it all.

But Chastain’s day wasn’t over as he did something next which flew under the radar relatively, but it still grabbed the attention of the fans.

Fans call out Ross Chastain’s act of congratulating Denny Hamlin

Now, spoiler alert, Chastain didn’t get in another secret fight with another driver, nor did he reveal his plans to wreck Gragson in Darlington. What Chastain did was visit his ‘old friend’ Denny Hamlin in the victory lane to congratulate him.

This might make sense because Hamlin, himself won the race against Kyle Larson in a way you’d expect Chastain to win a race.

However, this didn’t make much sense to NASCAR fans as some of them thought it was a “PR Move” by the #1 driver, while others just cracked the obvious jokes in the scheme of things.

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“Sick and tired” Noah Gragson reacts to post-race altercation with Ross Chastain

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After he was pulled away by his team and the officials, Noah Gragson admitted in an interview that he’s had enough for Chastain’s antics on the racetrack, that it was time someone went up and confronted him the way he did.

“I’m sick and tired of it,” Gragson said as per FOX News. “The guy runs into everyone. When you have guys like Chase Elliott and other guys telling you to beat his a–, everyone is just sick of him.”

On the other hand, Chastain admitted he “got tight off 4 for sure.” The Trackhouse man also remarked that he and Gragson have “a very similar attitude” on the racetrack.

“We train together, we prepare together, we know every little bit about each other. I definitely crowded him out of 4,” Chastain added.

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