“If I Was His Crew Chief…”- HMS Legend Weighs In on Ross Chastain-Ryan Blaney Controversy, Acquits Trackhouse Star of Any Wrongdoings

When NASCAR crowns its Cup Series champion based on points because someone else (a non-championship driver) took away the win, does the championship trophy lack its usual luster? Is it different from winning the race and thus winning the championship? Well, after last Sunday’s race, this is the burning question down the alleys of NASCAR.

The last 31 laps of the Grand Finale at Phoenix Raceway were an end-to-end race in themselves. Blocking three lanes all by himself, Ross Chastain held off runner-up Ryan Blaney to earn his second win of the season. The competition that he put up against the #12 was so tough that during the closing laps of the race, Blaney nudged Chastain out of frustration. Was Chastain’s victory unnecessary? This is what Steve Letarte had to say about it.

Steve Letarte assumes the role of Ross Chastain’s crew chief

It’s a controversy if what Ross Chastain did was something that he should have done. Chastain could have easily given Ryan Blaney the chance to win the race and take home the championship title. However, he did not spare an inch for Blaney and later revealed that he did not regret his actions even a bit.

Steve Letarte didn’t have a problem with what Ross Chastain did. He said, “Ross has every right to do what he did. I don’t think he was inappropriate; I don’t think he laid a door on the 12 car.” Although he felt like Ross Chastain did nothing wrong, Letarte did admit that if he were Phil Surgen (Chastain’s crew chief), he would have asked Chastain to lie low and let Ryan Blaney take the win.

“I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again,” said Letarte. “If I was his crew chief, I probably would have said, hey man let’s get out of the way. We hope to be here one day; let’s not be in the mix. That’s my opinion; that’s what I would have asked him to do.” But he also said that just because he doesn’t like it doesn’t make it wrong.

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Let’s keep the Ross Chastain topic on hold for now. After all, he is the winner. It’s interesting how there were more than four championship contenders, and none of them got any significant coverage from NBC. Not to mention, even Ross Chastain didn’t get his due respect.

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Hendrick Motorsports icon William Byron dominated early and led the opening 94 laps of the 312-lap-long race. Stewart-Haas Racing speedster Kevin Harvick tried to come to the forefront. Even Chris Buescher won stage 2 prior to the poor pit stop, which hurled him down the order. To top it all off, Ross Chastain led 157 laps, which is more than half of the entire race.

And yet, NBC cast a blind eye on them. Other than Christopher Bell’s brake rotor failure, nothing really came under NBC’s radar. A lion-share of the NASCAR fandom felt like Ross Chastain’s victory celebration demanded more attention from NBC than it did.

As a matter of fact, it didn’t receive any coverage at all. Ross Chastain climbed on the roof of his Chevy and smashed a watermelon, celebrating his win and all of that was barely 15 minutes before everyone heard from him in the victory lane. And still, it was just his team that shared the footage. No, he was not a championship driver, but every race is a story of hard work and perseverance. Did Ross Chastain not deserve a shout-out for that? One could only wonder.

Read more: Justin Marks Stands Behind Ross Chastain’s Tricky Phoenix Defense After Ryan Blaney’s Outburst

Fans could argue that NBC did a better job with the Cup Series side of things than it did with Friday’s unruly Truck Series race, where, amidst a great run for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, both race winner Christian Eckes and teammate Jake Garcia got ignored altogether. What are your thoughts on this? Do let us know in the comments below!