Ross Chastain made a bit of NASCAR history on Sunday when he became the first non-championship finalist to win the Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway.
It’s long been understood that the final four teams were given a little leeway when it comes to technical inspection tolerances over the past decade since NASCAR moved to this championship format in 2014 but that has changed the past two years with cars that are nearly identical.
Chastain took the checkered flag, but he had to hold off eventual champion Ryan Blaney to do it, and it created some intense moments in the final stage of the race. Specifically, Blaney appeared to be faster than Chastain in two instances late in the race but couldn’t get around in part because of the clean air advantage.
Blaney felt like he was getting held up, potentially falling back towards Kyle Larson in third but the battle for the championship, and he responded to Chastain accordingly — driving flat into the back of the Trackhouse No. 1.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter as Blaney won the championship from second behind Chastain but needed to be kept cool by his crew, as tensions started to mount over the course of two different runs.
“I was not going to crash him,” Chastain said. “I was not going to use my front bumper, side fenders, anything. Dirty air? Different story. Yeah, I’m going to. I’m going to keep the lead because that’s everything.
“Before the second to last run, I thought we had him covered. Coming to the end of Stage 2, the 17 (Chris Buescher) drove by me, made some adjustments, (and) got too loose. We were too tight, too loose, too tight again when Blaney and the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) right there when the last caution came out. I asked Phil [Surgen] and our group to please let me turn better, make the car turn better without giving up any rear grip.
“I know he’s mad and I don’t care. I do not care. I did not care then; I do not care now. I’m here to race him. I’m not going to wreck him. I gave him the bottom most times. One time I was inside of him after he got by me, I crossed back over into (Turn) 3 and I made sure to wrap the bottom. I’m not going to slide up and pinch him at all. It’s in my mind the entire time, for sure.”
Blaney had equally strong feelings about the air blocking and his decision to hit Chastain. Specifically, Blaney called him a ‘piece of s—‘ and an ‘air blocking mother——.’ Blaney gave Chastain a middle finger.
“There’s no secret that I can snap on the radio,” Blaney said. “That’s been my whole life. That’s been my whole career. It’s just kind of something I do. The fact that Ross said I raced him hard, the dude blocked three lanes in the corner of every lap. I don’t know how I’m racing him hard.
“When you look in the mirror going left, right, left, following wherever I go, I don’t understand how he thinks I’m racing him hard. He’s backing me up to (Larson). I have to go. He’s backing me up to Larson to where I’m going to be in trouble.”
Then Blaney ran into the back of Chastain.
“F—— right I hit him on purpose,” Blaney said. “He blocked me on purpose 10 times. So, yeah, I hit him on purpose. What do you expect me to do? He’s backing me up to the other championship guy and I got to go.
“We were just racing hard. But do I think he was over-excessive on the blocks? Yes, very much so. Did I hit him? Yes, I did. That’s just part of it.”
It seemingly made NASCAR uncomfortable, the possibility that the race for the lead could have a negative consequence on the championship outcome.
NASCAR responds to Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney drama
“When Blaney hit Ross Chastain, Chastain’s spotter was fussed at by a NASCAR official,” said veteran spotter, Brett Griffin on the Door, Bumper Clear podcast.
“The official went down there and asked, ‘what are you doing,’ and the spotter said, ‘trying to win a race.’
Griffin, who did not work the race on Sunday but is well connected as a marketer and agent, concluded that NASCAR did not want a repeat of the Truck Series disaster of a race on Sunday.
Joel Edmonds, who spotted for Aric Almirola on Sunday, said he saw it first-hand and that spotters Josh Williams and Brandon McReynolds were a little animated at each other on the roof.
“When Ross was all over (Blaney), if you don’t let me lead, I’m going to wreck you and finally he lets him go and goes to third, but I saw (an official) come scream at McReynolds. NASCAR wanted to calm him down so the Hocevar thing doesn’t happen.”
NASCAR denied that the message was for Chastain to move over.
In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Chastain crew chief Phil Surgen said he was never told they needed to move over.
“No. Not from NASCAR, not from anybody else,” Surgen said.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.