Hendrick Motorsports has seen its fair share of success during the 2023 NASCAR season. Through 13 races, the organization has five combined wins between William Byron and Kyle Larson.
This is likely the lowest number of victories that Hendrick Motorsports could have this season. Larson has been wrecked or seen unfortunate luck in so many races as he could be around four to five wins by this point.
However, the driver of the No. 5 car has been involved in several accidents with Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain. Not all of them were Chastain’s fault but it appears that Hendrick Motorsports is starting to lose its cool with him.
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Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, calls out Ross Chastain for his aggression
Chastain has been involved in several incidents with Hendrick Motorsports drivers in the past. Last season, the driver of the No. 1 car spun Chase Elliott at World Wide Technology Raceway and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion showed his displeasure.
In fact, Elliott told Noah Gragson, the driver who fought Chastain on pit road at Kansas Speedway, to fight the Trackhouse Racing driver and that somebody has to do it or the aggression won’t stop.
Then, Chastain left Alex Bowman out to dry at Talladega Superspeedway which caused the driver of the No. 48 car to confront him after the event. However, most of the damage has gone toward Larson.
Chastain punted Rick Ware Racing driver Brennan Poole at Dover Motor Speedway and collected Larson, who had the best car in Stage 1. The driver of the No. 5 car retaliated by slowing him down while trying to chase down the leader in the closing laps.
Now, another incident has taken place. Larson squeezed Chastain into the wall on a restart but both kept going straight before a caution. Then, Chastain sent it into Turn 1 on the next restart and didn’t give enough space to the point where both of them ended up being wrecked.
It was a disappointing finish for both drivers as they each had really good days at Darlington. This came up in Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick’s post-race press conference and he didn’t hold back his thoughts about Chastain’s aggression.
“I think you can ask any driver in here that (Ross Chastain)’s wrecked or been involved with him. He doesn’t have to be that aggrressive…you just don’t run people up in the fence…he’s going to make a lot of enemies. It’s hard to win a championship when you’ve got a lot of paybacks out there…(Kyle Larson), this one and Dover and just — Talladega, it’s really getting old with these guys.
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. I’m loyal to Chevrolet, but when somebody runs over us, then I expet my guys to hold their ground. I’m going to ask them to yield just becaue of Chevrolet.”
Rick Hendrick on Ross Chastain following Darlington Raceway
It is easy to tell that people are starting to get tired of Chastain’s actions. This would be a different story if he was performing them while winning races but it has been over a year since his last victory.
Granted, the driver of the No. 1 car does lead the point standings. Chastain has the potential to be a NASCAR superstar and there is no arguing that fact. He can change NASCAR for the better if he limits his aggression and saves it for meaningful moments.
Right now, Chastain is being over-aggressive and it is costing him victories. The Trackhouse Racing driver can still be aggressive and win races, which is something that the Hendrick Motorsports owner alluded to in his press conference.
Hendrick said Chastain has so much talent but he needs to calm down and learn the right times to use his aggression. Quite frankly, the NASCAR owner is correct and if Chastain took that advice, he would turn himself into a true superstar.
At this point, the 30-year-old driver likely has several paybacks on the way but still doesn’t have a victory. Chastain is going to be really successful if he learns how to control his aggression but that remains an “if.”
In the meantime, whether you are watching it live or looking for how to watch NASCAR on TV or another streaming platform, Sportsnaut has you covered for the upcoming weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway!
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