Last year, Ross Chastain seemed to have singled out Denny Hamlin after the number of incidents between the pair with almost each of them being incited by the #1 driver. This year though, Chastain seems to have singled out not a driver but an entire organization in Hendrick Motorsports.
Because think about it, we’re not even halfway into the season and the number of times Chastain has been involved with Rick Hendrick’s cars and ruining their results has been a lot.
In fact, this has happened in the last few races with Kyle Larson finding himself on the wrong end of the Watermelon man at Talladega, Dover, and more recently at Darlington.
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Naturally, this led to Rick Hendrick firing harsh words against Chastain after the Darlington drama.
Rick Hendrick’s blunt response to a Ross Chastain-related question after Darlington
In a post-race interview at Darlington after William Byron’s win, Hendrick was asked about “another Chevrolet driver” who ended up hurting Larson’s result in the race. The other driver in this question was obviously Ross Chastain and as soon as Mr. H heard the question, he had a very blunt response.
“I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevrolet if he wrecks our cars. I don’t care, and I told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back. If you don’t do it, they’ll run all over you,” Hendrick said. “I’m loyal to Chevrolet, but when somebody runs over us, then I expect my guys to hold their ground.
“I’m not going to ask them to yield just because of Chevrolet.”
NASCAR Spotter claims Mr. H is firing a warning to Chevrolet about Chastain
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Now, this was as clear as clear things can be, but there was a hint of warning in Hendrick’s words which spotter Brett Griffin verbalized in a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast.
WATCH THIS STORY: Watch: Kyle Busch’s explosive rant against Ross Chastain revised as ‘watermelon’ makes waves at Kansas.
“I think Rick Hendrick is firing a warning shot across the bow to Chevrolet in his statements. Who do you think got the s**t load of stick at Phoenix between Chase (Elliott) and Ross (Chastain)? It was Chase,” Griffin said. “Who do you think got the bad end of the stick at Dover between Ross and Kyle (Larson)? Who do you think got the bad end of the stick between Ross and Kyle yesterday?
“I think Rick Hendrick is tired of seeing his racecars getting wrecked when Rick Hendrick is the number 1 Chevrolet team in the garage. Who do you think sells more Chevrolets at their dealerships, Rick Hendrick or Justin Marks?”
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Griffin added that regarding “key partners,” both Trackhouse Racing Team and Hendrick Motorsports fit the bill for Chevrolet but Rick Hendrick is “THE KEY PARTNER.”
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“He’s at the top of the pecking order. I think this is him saying out loud to Chevrolet, ‘You better get this guy to stop wrecking my racecars,'” the spotter described. “Because at the end of the day Ross has pi**ed off half the garage and it’s still yet for anybody to do anything to him.”