NASCAR recently wrapped up its visit to the Circuit of The Americas. And folks, it was NASCAR’s first road course race of the season. Naturally, Trackhouse Racing was supposed to be a front-runner (all drivers are road course maestros). But the weekend did not go as planned for Justin Marks’ drivers. Well, Connor Zilisch wrecked his way to the checkered flag in the Xfinity race. Shane van Gisbergen did not win the race (as was expected), he finished P6. Ross Chastain just remained silent on his ‘questionable’ antics there. But recently, Zilisch has painted a completely different picture of the ‘Watermelon Farmer of NASCAR.’
What happened in the Cup race was, Chastain dive-bombed into Chase Elliott on the very first lap. This put the #9 driver, which was a fast car that day, 33 spots down. When Elliott later in the race came for payback, Chastain simply moved out of the way and let him pass. And obviously everyone expected answers from the #1 post all this fiasco. But Chastain left with a simple, “No comment.” This made everyone mad, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., who called Chastain, ducking the press as a “Chicken s–t” move. Well, but Connor Zilisch was in a chat with Kevin Harvick recently, and his version of Ross Chastain’s persona is miles from what we saw at COTA.
Connor Zilisch praises Ross Chastain’s help for COTA
Zilisch is in his first full-time Xfinity season, but still, he was a frontrunner in the COTA race. Well, because of how he won his debut Xfinity race last year at Watkins Glen. And when so many eyeballs are on you, there’s added pressure. To ease it, Zilisch leaned on his teammates’ help, who also happened to be road course masters. SVG’s all three wins last Xfinity season were road courses. And Ross Chastain is a past COTA winner (2022), has an impressive average finish there: 6.0. But what’s surprising is that Zilisch called Chastain an “open book.”
Which is surprising after how he avoided answering any questions after the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix race. See this, on Harvick’s ‘Happy Hour’ podcast, Zilisch describing Chastain said, “Ross is really good as well. He’s one of the most open books that I know. You can ask him anything and he’ll give you an honest answer. It’s really helpful to have a teammate like that who’s not trying to keep secrets from you.”
Well, we can say with certainty that the whole NASCAR community right now disagrees with the 18-year-old’s statement. Look. The whole thing at COTA was a mess. Chastain misjudged his entry speed, Chase Elliott was unlucky to be there. The #9 was adamant about giving it back and Chastain sneaked out. But we needed answers for all this. While Elliott too was silent, he at least gave us something: “Just a crazy day. Got run over in the first corner. I’m curious to see it, I still haven’t seen it, to know whether or not I did something wrong. Happy to own it, but it was the first corner of the first lap.”
But it should have been Ross Chastain to come forward and own it. He could have maybe taken Dale Jr.’s suggestion: “I think you got to comment, there’s no harm in it. I mean, I guess you could say ‘That man messed up; I went down in the corner and my shallow entry; was off line and dirt track down there on the inside, and he made a mistake; lap 1, I should know better,’ he (Chastain) could’ve said all that, he could’ve said anything, and that would’ve been better than a no comment.”
And we know the #1 driver isn’t one to shy away usually. But something seems to have changed!
Why has Ross Chastain gone soft?
After the 2022 season, after Chastain rode the wall in Martinsville, the entire NASCAR community looked at him as a messiah. Finally, after all these years, a driver who wasn’t afraid to bend the rules. Dale Jr. even compared him to ‘The Intimidator.’ And this had many convinced that he was the next Dale Earnhardt Sr. Also, we are sure Noah Gragson’s jaw still remembers that right cross from the 2023 Kansas race.
Recall Gragson’s comment. “I’m just over it. Nobody else has the (guts) to at least confront him, at least just grab him and do something, he’s just going to keep doing it. Nobody confronts the guy, he just keeps doing it and I’m sick and tired of it.” That was it. Chastain did not care if the whole NASCAR garage hated him. He tested the waters with almost everyone, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Elliott several times, the list is long.
But after Rick Hendrick’s warning for wrecking Larson in 2023, Chastain’s gone soft. Remember when the HMS team owner had said, “I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevrolet if he wrecks our cars. I don’t care. I’ve told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back. If you don’t do it, they’ll run all over you.” Even in 2024, we did not see the same aggression. The driver who did what it took to win, rather, settled for a P19 with one win and 6 top 5s.
And look at even this year, when Carson Hocevar traded paint with him at Atlanta. Chastain went and had a chat with the youngster. No guns blazing, no punches flying, just a simple chat. And even in the post-race interview, Chastain said, “I just don’t think it was what was best. Definitely wasn’t the best for me at that moment, I lost a chance to win the race because of him, and I want to understand why he did that.
The old Chastain would have taken Hocevar out in the next race (COTA). But here Chastain was busy not getting wrecked back by Elliott. What do you think is up with him?
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