“It’s typical Ross, he just sees red and does dumb stuff,” said Joey Logano after the checkered flag was waved in Chicago. The reigning champ was furious after the No. 1 car dumped the No. 22 Ford Mustang going into Turn 2 with 12 laps remaining. The incident forced the Team Penske driver to settle for an 11th-place finish, and when the race was over, the two engaged in a heated discussion on pit road, with tempers flaring from both sides.

It’s not the first time that the drivers have clashed with each other. At Martinsville earlier this year, Logano called out the Trackhouse driver for racing like a “jacka– every week” after they had a run-in before a late restart. And this time around, a prominent NASCAR insider pinned the blame on Chastain, holding him accountable for his questionable move.

Steve Letarte urges Chastain to come clean

Joey Logano was absolutely livid after being wrecked at the Chicago Street course. The three-time Cup Series winner went on a tirade on the team radio, saying, “There’s f—ing six cars behind me wrecking into me, and then he destroys me from four back. That motherf—–er.” Speaking to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass afterwards, the Connecticut-native demanded justice, saying, “He [Chastain] admitted he wrecked me on purpose, which means he should get fined … that’s not okay.”

And it looks like NASCAR insider Steve Letarte agrees with Joey Logano. TNT’s color commentator candidly said, “I hate to agree with Joey, but there’s a real argument there, I guess.” Urging Ross Chastain to take accountability for his actions, the 46-year-old went on to say, “If I’m Chastain, I’m calling Joey Logano this week, taking my b— chewing. Even if you get turned around at Sonoma, I just think that Ross and Trackhouse are building stuff, and you don’t want a guy like Joey Logano as an enemy. It’s just unnecessary.”

Chastain’s manoeuvre was more of a reaction to what happened earlier. It all started when Austin Cindric locked up his brakes, which caused a dust-up in Turn 1. Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford Mustang collided with Ryan Preece, who in turn went into Kyle Larson. The chain reaction followed, with the No. 5 Chevy slamming into Joey Logano, who then collided with Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. The Trackhouse Racing driver chose to get his revenge in Turn 2, even though the earlier incident was unintentional.

The 32-year-old spun Logano, and in the blink of an eye, the No. 22 Ford went spinning and collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the crossfire. While the reigning Cup Series champ managed to recover eventually to finish the race, the Hyak Motorsports racer wasn’t as lucky and was forced to retire early. If NASCAR doesn’t fine Ross Chastain despite the racer admitting that he intentionally wrecked his rival on the team radio, it’s well within the realm of possibility that the Team Penske driver takes justice into his own hands. Precisely the situation Letarte is trying to avoid.

Ross Chastain’s knee-jerk reaction may hurt him later

It’s not the first time Ross Chastain has rubbed a fellow driver the wrong way. A few years ago, the Trackhouse Racing driver had an infamous feud with Denny Hamlin, with the two taking turns to wreck each other during the 2022 season. The No. 1 Chevy racer was also involved in incidents with Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, prompting Rick Hendrick to eventually intervene and say, “If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back.” Even though the Florida-native is a fellow Chevy driver.

Chastain has mellowed down since, but there are still glimpses from his ‘bad-boy era’ occasionally. The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck revealed that the No. 1 Chevy driver wasn’t aware of the circumstances that led to the initial contact, and went on to say, “Brandon McReynolds (Chastain’s spotter) is like, ‘Hey, just to let you know, that was the 2 who jacked up everybody there and did a kamikaze move.’ But too late then, because Ross had already dumped Logano. And that’s when (Ricky) Stenhouse got his damage, too. And then Stenhouse has a smashing watermelons gif on X afterwards.”

It’ll be interesting to see if either Joey Logano or Ricky Stenhouse Jr. takes revenge in the upcoming races. With a spot in the playoffs assured, Ross Chastain has a lot to fight for in the remaining races, but he’ll be watching his back starting from next week at Sonoma Raceway. Do you think either driver will look for payback after the incident in Chicago? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!