Ross Chastain's run-in with Kyle Larson at the end of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday once again put the Trackhouse Racing driver in a pretty difficult position from a PR perspective. In the post-race press conference, Rick Hendrick expressed his displeasure with how Chastain has been racing against other drivers, pretty much echoing the sentiments of every driver who has come into contact with the 30-year-old Florida native this season.
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Chastain's overaggressiveness appears to have led to a response from Trackhouse co-owner Justin Marks. Marks appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to address this past weekend's incident, which ultimately led to a William Byron win. Marks admitted that Chastain needs to scale back his aggressiveness a bit.
While @JustinMarksTH belief in @RossChastain’s talent remains unchanged, he says this latest incident at Darlington is cause for concern.
🗣️ “He’s got some things he’s got to clean up. We, today, started a process of more aggressively handling that.” #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Pu8qcc9s4n
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) May 15, 2023
"The important message here is that we are a believer in Ross' talent. That's obvious. He's very fast," Marks said. "But he's got some things he's got to clean up. I mean, I'll just be totally honest with you. And we today started a process of more aggressively handling that with our partners, with Ross, and with our team. Not because necessarily we're mad at him, but because there is so much opportunity here."
Clearly, Hendrick's comments about the possibility of Chastain winning a championship if he cuts back his aggressiveness hit home with the Trackhouse owners.
Chastain's track record is clearly against him when it comes to these incidents, and it's good to hear his team is working with him to scale back some of what has become a weekly occurrence. To some extent, it's good to be talked about in NASCAR — but if it's something that is getting on the nerves of more than just the drivers in the fieldl, then something has to be done about it.
Good on you, Justin Marks. Better to handle it before Chastain's actions really cost him a chance at a championship. As Hendrick said, Chastain has plenty of talent. If he just focuses less on run-ins, maybe he will win one of these races.
