“It’s just typical Ross. He just sees red and does dumb stuff.” Joey Logano’s infuriated words clarified his emotions about last weekend’s Chicago Street Race. During a lap 64 restart, Ross Chastain mistakenly assumed Logano had bumped him from the rear. So the Trackhouse Racing star plowed into Logano immediately after, spurring the controversy. Now, however, NASCAR does not want Logano to ‘see red’ either.

Penalties are hardly rare in the sport, with multiple fallouts happening in 2024. Drivers like Carson Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr received severe penalties, while Ross Chastain remained clean. In 2025, as well, Chastain seems clear so far. But NASCAR anticipates more trouble, although fans want it.

NASCAR warns against a build-up

Well, we saw a bit of ‘Hail Melon’ in Sunday’s race. Austin Cindric locked his rear brakes entering Turn 1, sliding forward into traffic, which involved Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece. Larson was sent forward into Chastain, who spun out. The impact was enough for Chastain to forget to check what caused the wreck and take out his anger at the first rival he saw – Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford.

The No. 1 Chevy bumped into the 22 entering Turn 2, sending Logano into Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s No. 47 car. That sparked outrage from not only Logano but also other veterans of the NASCAR garage. The number of expletives in his post-wreck comments accurately captures his anger: “The f— is his problem? “Ross better get the f—— information right before he goes and wrecks somebody… That f—.”

Joey Logano even demanded that NASCAR fine his rival. In a post-race confrontation, according to Logano, Ross Chastain “admitted” to intentionally wrecking the Team Penske star, and the latter wanted compensation. However, not only did NASCAR let Chastain off lightly, but it also warned Logano against retaliation. Journalist Steven Taranto updated on X: “Mike Forde said on Hauler Talk that he would be “fairly surprised” if NASCAR doesn’t have conversations with both Joey Logano and Ross Chastain, whether together or separately, in Sonoma to let them know officials will be watching them to make sure nothing funny happens.” 

This was unexpected, as Joey Logano has already let Ross Chastain off multiple times this season. The Chicago Street Race was hardly their first encounter. Their first run-in happened at Circuit of the Americas in March. Contact from Chastain to AJ Allmendinger forced the latter wide into Logano while all were battling inside the top 10. Chastain finished 12th while Logano finished 24th. The second encounter came just four weeks later in Martinsville. Chastain sent Chase Briscoe into Logano, spinning Logano from sixth place. After that event, Logano said: “He just races like a jacka– every week.”

Even one of Joey Loagno’s biggest rivals, Denny Hamlin, came to Joey’s defense after Chastain’s antics on Sunday. To be fair, Hamlin doesn’t have the sweetest relationship with either of them, as he has been fined for intentionally wrecking Chastain at Phoenix and had a shoving match with Logano at Martinsville in the past. However, Hamlin was completely on Joey’s side after Sunday, saying on his Actions Detrimental podcast, “Chastain rage-wrecked other cars that didn’t have anything to do with it… I don’t like it, I don’t agree with it… I agree with everything Joey said.”

And the NASCAR community is heavily eager to believe in Joey Logano’s words. They feel that a payback is only fair.

Fans mount a backlash 

Penalizing drivers for their wrongdoing is always justifiable. However, NASCAR has drawn flak for being inconsistent in its ‘policing’ of drivers. Last year in North Wilkesboro, officials penalized Ricky Stenhouse Jr. but not Kyle Busch, who started the fiasco on the racetrack. Then, Cody Ware’s horrifying crash in Chicago took over 35 seconds for officials to react. So one fan chided NASCAR’s intentions now: “Officials will be watching” is a completely worthless statement. If you want to know how good NASCAR is at noticing things, ask Josh Berry and Cody Ware.” 

Back in 2011, an incident similar to Logano-Chastain’s deal happened between Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman. Apparently, it escalated into a physical brawl, as a fan wrote: “Reminds me of when NASCAR did this with Newman and Montoya years ago, only for it to cause a fight in the hauler. I’m not sure if this will be a civil discussion if both sides are there at the same time.”

Another fan empathized with Joey Logano, who NASCAR is denying the chance for payback. The Chicago instance marks the third time Ross Chastain got on his nerves. Hence, the fan lamented: “So basically “nothing funny happens” = Joey better not pay Ross back. S—- to be Joey.” Somebody else cited Logano’s composed behavior.

Despite the #22’s foul mouth, he does not do anything risky on the track: “People forget how calculated Joey is. He’s not gonna outright wreck Ross. Like Dale said on the Download, he’s gonna do something at some point in the future that’s really gonna screw over Ross, either by aero blocking him or by doing something suggestive enough that isn’t outright dirty, but enough to really tick Ross off.” Meanwhile, one fan wants to see some fireworks, either way: “We need things to happen though.. This would be a fun rivalry.”

Clearly, tensions are building up for the upcoming Cup Series race in Sonoma. We can only wait and see if Joey Logano will heed NASCAR’s warning or not, with fans excited already.