Ross Chastain Finally Speaks Out Against Denny Hamlin’s Accusations, Becoming Rick Hendrick’s Scapegoat

“There’s no way we can have a Chastain baby,” Denny Hamlin said recently on his Actions Detrimental podcast. The Joe Gibbs Racing #11 is due to be a father for the third time this year. And when his former teammate Kyle Busch brought up how he avoided Brexton Busch being born on the 22nd because of Busch’s rivalry with Penske #22, Joey Logano, Hamlin was reminded of his own predicament.

With his first boy due around June 1st, Hamlin was not thrilled at the possibility of it lining up with Trackhouse Racing #1, Ross Chastain. The two have had a feud in NASCAR for many years now. From Chastain knocking out Hamlin’s car into the SAFER barrier at Gateway in 2022, or Hamlin retaliating against Chastain in 2023 at Phoenix by forcing him into the wall on the final lap. More recently, it ignited once again at Talladega Superspeedway, and Chastain has some answers for his actions.

The rivalry returns as Ross Chastain speaks up on Denny Hamlin

It all started when the Trackhouse Racing Driver’s No.1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 blocked Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE on Lap 121 at Turn 3 as the two cars were heading into the corner. Denny Hamlin did not appreciate this. On his Actions Detrimental podcast the following week, Hamlin called it “bulls— racing,” and called for such moves to be “black flagged”. The #11 also said he confronted Chastain about the move after the race and claimed that Chastain would have wrecked him if he tried the move.

Denny Hamlin‘s accusations hit hard, “But I believe the roles reversed, he would have, he would probably just run into me,” Hamlin said. “I would think he would run into me as he should and say, ‘I didn’t make you swerve. I was running my lane with the pack of cars that was on the racetrack. You tried to merge up into a lane that wasn’t there.” However, Chastain revealed his side of the story in a 12-question interview with The Athletic.

The interviewer highlighted the different reactions that the move received, from being praised by Rick Hendrick’s Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, Rudy Fugle, for sacrificing for Chevy, to Denny Hamlin referring to it as a move that should be black-flagged. Chastain cleared the air, saying, “Well, the intention was to get picked up by that line. They were going faster than I thought. So if I could do it again, I wouldn’t do it — because the 77 (Carson Hocevar, a Chevrolet who was leading the Toyota line) was coming faster than I thought.”

In a surprising turn of events, Chastain claims he was not motivated to block anyone, much less Denny Hamlin. The #1 just wanted to join the draft after a torrid start to the weekend saw him qualify in 32nd. However, he claims to have miscalculated the speed of fellow Chevy and his former mentee, Carson Hocevar. Chastain added, “From there, yeah, I knew it was going to be self-serving to Chevy. I mean, there were Chevys in front of me, only one behind me, and then a bunch of others. But that wasn’t top of mind; the thing was just to get picked up by the 77 and lead that line. I just didn’t realize they were going as fast as they were.”

In the end, it seems like Ross Chastain was misunderstood for a mistake he made, and was painted as a Chevrolet hero. To this, he said, “That’s common. People think that I think more than I do. I’m out there racing and reacting. That was not a (spotter) Brandon McReynolds call to move up. It wasn’t pre-planned by Chevy. There was no like, ‘Oh, the back Chevy will block them’.”

Hamlin finished in the 21st position, coming off two victories in the three prior races. Post-race, he did not deny the fact that he was close to being furious at Chastain. Meanwhile, former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte felt the move was perfectly fine, although he admitted that it ruined Toyota’s race. Letarte said, “I don’t have a problem with what Chastain is doing here, actually. That’s exactly what you should do. That’s the defensive move; nobody wrecked. I’m sure Denny’s not happy with him, but I’m sure Denny would have done the same thing if he was in Ross’ spot. So, I’m okay with it, but that, I think, is what derailed the Toyota strategy.”

At the end of the day, Ross maintains it was a miscalculation. One that ended up working in Rick Hendrick’s favor and spurred narratives of Chastain colluding with another Chevrolet. However, this isn’t the first time Ross has been accused of this, and when he was, it was blatant race manipulation.

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The events that marred Martinsville 2024

During the last round of eight playoff race in 2024, the stakes were as high as they could be. With Ford’s Joey Logano and Toyota’s Tyler Reddick locked into the Championship 4, Chevrolet sat in a compromising position, having no driver locked into the season finale. As the laps dwindled, Ryan Blaney led the race and was poised to mark Ford’s second entry to the championship race, while Toyota’s Christopher Bell and Chevrolet’s William Byron fought for the final spot.

The events that transpired were a shocking revelation of the power OEMs possess in NASCAR. Chevrolets of Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon were asked to slow down behind William Byron, creating a blockade that prevented him from being overtaken.. Byron was losing fuel, and a pit stop would have all but sealed Christopher Bell’s spot in the final round. This move led to 23XI Racing Toyota Bubba Wallace slowing down on the final lap for Christopher Bell to pass, leading to a huge conspiracy over the ending of the race.

Byron made it through, while Bell inadvertently rode the wall and was disqualified. However, the aftermath proved to be brutal for Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon, and Bubba Wallace. The sanctioning body issued $600,000 in fines and suspended nine team members from the three teams for this alleged race manipulation.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President, stressed that the punished drivers were lucky not to be suspended. “In this case, we felt we wanted to focus more on the team leadership, something that we haven’t done in the past,” Sawyer said. “But I promise you that does not exclude going forward. We have meetings coming up this week with our drivers, and we will get that point across to them and be very clear that when you do anything that’s going to compromise the integrity of our sport, we’re going to react.”

Ross Chastain was let off the hook as he was forced to follow OEM orders. NASCAR could not punish the OEMs for the same, as there was no rule around this, and that was later updated in 2025 to prevent such manipulation. So it’s no surprise that Chastain strayed away from any involvement with assisting Rick Hendrick’s team at Talladega. However, that won’t change the fact that Denny Hamlin was furious at the #1 as their rivalry continues to take precedence in the 2025 Cup Series season.