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DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 19: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, waits in the garage area during practice for NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
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DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 19: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, waits in the garage area during practice for NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
After Chase Elliott was unable to fight for the Championship winning race at Phoenix, there might lie more bad news for the Hendrick Motorsport driver. Recently during a podcast with Corey LaJoie, Ryan Blaney’s pit crew member and several others discussed who would pick up the Most Popular Driver award for this season. During that discussion one name kept popping up and it was not Elliott.
Ryan Blaney’s pit crew member, Ryan Flores said, “Ross Chastain’s most popular driver this year because of the Martinsville move… I’m just trying to be cold here.“
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Then someone else interjected, “You run NASCAR.com so this might be insider trading.”
To that Corey LaJoie stated, “I have seen how you guys count the all-star race here too.”
Ross Chastain might realistically have a shot
Chastain might actually have a shot at winning the best driver award this season. Mostly after he became an overnight sensation across the world of motorsport, following his once-in-a-lifetime move at Martinsville.
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MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA – OCTOBER 30: Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet, rides the wall on the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on October 30, 2022, in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The watermelon man shoved his car into the wall and rode it with his gas pedal on full until he was able to overtake a bunch of cars and get himself into the playoffs for the championship four. In the process, Chastain sure did damage his car, but he was smart enough to try the video game move for the final lap of the race.
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In his last lap lunge, he knocked Denny Hamlin out of the playoffs, but Chastain knew that he had nothing to lose and only to gain. So with that motivation, he just decided to send it and see what happens. Well, what happened was, Chastain, became an overnight celebrity across the world, with multiple athletes across sports taking note of Ross Chastain’s incredible creativity on track.
