Ross Chastain’s been stirring up the NASCAR scene since 2022 with that wild ‘Hail Melon’ move that got him past Denny Hamlin and into the playoffs. And last year, he was nipping at Kyle Larson‘s heels until he got a stern talking-to from Mr. H. Fast forward to this year, just the second race in, and he nearly got tangled up in a mess with Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin.

With just 21 laps left in the third stage, the race came to a screeching halt with a red flag, all thanks to Chase Briscoe’s wild spin smack dab in the middle of the track. Briscoe got a bit too bold, trying to squeeze through a tight spot and making it four cars abreast, heading into Turn 3. That’s when his #14 car lost its grip, twirled around, and smacked hard into the wall. Denny Hamlin, who was hot on his heels in fifth place, couldn’t dodge the chaos and ended up with his right front banged up after bumping into the skidding Briscoe. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain, by some stroke of luck, managed to dodge the bullet and has now mentioned how he barely made it through unscathed.

Crew chief knew Ross Chastain was scared

Sure, Chastain’s known for shaking things up on the track, and he didn’t disappoint later on when he managed to ruffle the feathers of NASCAR’s golden boy. But with 21 laps left and chaos unfolding in front of him, Chastain was freaked out. You could tell from the conversation between him and his crew chief right after he dodged Briscoe’s wreck.

Phil Surgen, his crew chief, could sense Chastain’s nerves were shot and cheekily asked him, “How are your shorts?” Chastain shot back with, “I got dirty jockeys,” basically saying he was scared out of his mind.

Despite pulling through that scare, Chastain’s actions later in the race didn’t win him any fans, especially Denny Hamlin. Hamlin was quick to point the finger at Chastain for making Chase Elliott’s race in Atlanta a nightmare.

The JGR driver addressed the matter on his podcast, clearly unhappy with how the Big One played out.

Denny Hamlin points the finger at #1 for causing Chase Elliott’s spin-out

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The drama kicked off in stage 3 when Chastain was duking it out with Bubba Wallace for a chance to get back on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott and the front runners were trying to weave their way past them and the other backmarkers, aiming for a smooth pass. But things got dicey for Elliott, who got nudged a couple of times by Chastain as he slowed down for the traffic ahead.

In one of these moments, Elliott had to slow down, but Chastain didn’t get the memo, bumping into Elliott and sending the #9 into a tailspin. Despite the mishap, Elliott managed to claw his way back to finish 15th in his Hooter Camaro ZL1. But Hamlin was none too pleased, suggesting Chastain owed some answers. Chewing over the incident on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin and the gang debated whether Chastain was really at fault.

Read More: Denny Hamlin Corners Ross Chastain For Wrecking ‘Hometown Boy’ Chase Elliott

Hamlin broke it down like this: “I’m saying that Chase is racing and Ross is jammed up his rear end, and so Chase, he’s got to make moves depending on what’s going on in front of him. If he’s got people checking up, well if you don’t give the guy in front of you room entering the corner…In that part of the pack, very little of the field is actually running wide open.”

Now, with his sights set on Las Vegas, Ross Chastain’s looking to make a mark, sitting at an average finish of 18.9 with a handful of top-5s and top-10s under his belt. It would be interesting to see his maneuvers at Las Vegas now.