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via Imago

via Imago

Ross Chastain has been on everyone’s minds of late. Love him or hate him, you just cannot ignore him. The Trackhouse Racing Team‘s star driver has been racking up adversaries faster than his own race car. However, he does have a few people who have defended his antics, and one of them is Dale Earnhardt Jr. However, 23XI Racing spotter for Bubba Wallace, Freddie Kraft, does not agree with that sentiment.

In the latest episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Kraft talked about Junior’s statement about Chastain, and said, “I saw all this stuff with Ross last week. Dale talking about, ‘He’s good for the sport because he’s this edgy and he wins races.’ He doesn’t win races, he’s won two races. He’s won one on a plate race and one at COTA, where he did a phenomenal job. But by the way, he knocks people out of the way to do that.

“How many races should he have won, or could he have won in this time period? Or at least been in a position to win where something stupid happened. If you put yourself in a position enough times, something good’s going to happen to you and you’re going to end up winning and race. But to say that he’s on this level because he goes out and wins races and he’s edgy, well he’s gonna have to win some more races before I give him that credit.”

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Is Ross Chastain the superstar that Dale Earnhardt Jr believes he is?

Last week, Dale Jr spoke about the infamous brawl between Chastain and Noah Gragson. According to him, NASCAR may not like it, but the TV networks would be all over the incident. This is because they would milk the incident for what it’s worth and use it to promote the sport. Dale Jr confessed that he was not a big fan of violence, but he did acknowledge that it was a chance for NASCAR. A chance to turn Chastain into a national star and grow his popularity by leaps and bounds.

Dale Jr even drew comparisons to his own late father, Dale Earnhardt. He declared that Dale Sr used to straight up “dump” other drivers on the track. Later, he would plead plausible deniability, and Chastain goes down the apology route as well. NASCAR then capitalized on Dale Sr’s antics and built a persona for him.

Does the Trackhouse Racing star deserve the credit that he gets?

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According to Kraft, Chastain is talented but has yet to deliver a more consistent performance when it really counts. The 30-year-old only has two to his name, both of which came in the 2022 campaign. This year, the closest that he has finished was 2nd place at the Dover International Speedway. In addition to that, he has four Top 5 finishes, and a race win cannot be far behind.

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Having said that, Freddie Kraft has insisted that once Chastain has a few more wins, he would consider him a superstar. One thing that he did not appreciate about the #1 driver was that Chastain would bulldoze other drivers to try and get that win.

READ MORE: Amid Heavy Backlash Following Kansas ‘Punchgate’, Dale Earnhardt Jr Sights a Golden Opportunity for NASCAR Involving Notorious Ross Chastain