HAMPTOM, GA. – Don’t expect Ross Chastain to join Denny Hamlin on his Actions Detrimental podcast any time soon.
No, there hasn’t been a formal invitation from Hamlin following their most recent altercation and post-race discussion at Phoenix Raceway. Or Hamlin’s subsequent admission of guilt of intentionally wrecking Chastain on Monday’s recording.
And while Hamlin believes a little “open, honest conversation” would prove beneficial, Chastain has tried that approach before, dating back to the drivers kumbaya breakfast last summer after their run-in at World Wide Technology Raceway.
“We just agreed that we’re willing to judge each other moving forward,” Chastain. The biggest thing is that. For me, all I can do is hold up my end of the deal, mentally judge him moving forward and then keep my car off of his.
“What I can do is control my car. I don’t want to be running into guys. I just need to do a better job in some key moments. I can do myself a lot of favors.”
Chastain is not naive. He understands his aggression triggered this rivalry and continues to be the catalyst that flames the feud. While it appeared, the drivers had reached a detente following Gateway, contact didn’t end between the No. 11 Toyota or the No. 1 Chevrolet.
“Because I spun Denny out here in the fall—on accident,” Chastain said with a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to, but…
“Even rolling out for qualifying, we were nose-to-tail—and that’s set by metrics. Even the great metric puts us together. I don’t know why.”
Hamlin’s latest retaliation at Phoenix stemmed from Chastain spinning out the No. 11 Toyota during the Busch Clash at the LA Coliseum. While Chastain can laugh at the irony of the pair continuing to find each other on the race track, the 24th-place result at Phoenix was no laughing matter.
“Initially when I’m hitting the wall and then realizing we finished last of lead lap cars, yeah, I’m mad,” Chastain said. “I’m human. We worked really hard to finish good and we were going to. So yeah, definitely mad. Cool down lap, still mad and just had a lot of self-talk and weighing out all my options.
“I felt like getting out the car and talking to him was going to be the best way I could go about it and. Really just kind of asked myself what could I gain by getting out of the car and what were my options? I thought the most gain for me was to get out of the car and talk to him.”
Chastain hasn’t listened to Hamlin’s podcast. Nor has he any comment of the subsequent penalty NASCAR levied against Hamlin following the driver’s omission of sending Chastain on the last lap.
The sanctioning body fined Hamlin $50,000 and docked him 25 driver points for violating Sections 4.4: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct: B. – Attempting to manipulate the outcome of Race or championship. Wrecking or spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from Competition as a result. And D. – Actions by a NASCAR Member that NASCAR finds to be detrimental to stock car racing or NASCAR.
Hamlin entered the Cup Series in 2005 when the chasm between the haves and have nots were dramatically different from today’s current teams. Of drivers that completed qualifying laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, only 1.3-seconds separated 34th-place JJ Yeley from polesitter Joey Logano.
Not only has the level of competition has changed, so too has the complexion of racing. Chastain has done his best to explain to Hamlin how aggressive the driving was as he rose through the ranks of local short tracks in Florida. While Hamlin would surmise there should be a tempered aggression once a driver reaches the highest level of stock car racing, Chastain questions whether Hamlin remembers where he came from.
“I think he remembers his years growing up short track racing a little different than they probably honestly were,” Chastain said. “And I told him that. I don’t think it was all just nice guys riding around the racetrack and never bumping.
“So, I think he’s remembering the good old days a little better than they were.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer
