Ross Chastain offers unique reaction to Austin Dillon NASCAR penalties after Richmond

Drivers took turns Saturday sharing their thoughts on Austin Dillon intentionally wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin last Sunday at Richmond. While the majority made it clear they thought what Dillon did was wrong, Ross Chastain offered a different perspective.

Chastain is the same driver who executed the “Hail Melon” at Martinsville back in 2022 to advance to the championship race. In that moment, Chastain didn’t picture himself riding the wall around Turns 3 and 4 to the checkered line. And in this instance, Chastain isn’t so sure what was going through Dillon’s mind when he right rear hooked Hamlin coming out of Turn 4.

“I don’t know… I think it’s a case-by-case,” Chastain said, via Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “Never thought I would drive into the wall in fifth gear at Martinsville until I did it. I think that no one knows what’s going through Austin’s head for that scenario. So, I don’t know… I don’t have a predetermined decision on what I’m going to do. It’s just racing at the end of these races.”

Dillon, of course, was racing for a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. There was a lot at stake, and that’s the decision Dillon made in that moment. The same can be said for Chastain when he secured his first checkered flag at COTA in 2022. Chastain raced AJ Allmendinger and Alex Bowman hard on the final lap, eventually making contact with Allmendinger who slammed into Bowman.

Ross Chastain draws comparison between COTA in 2022 and Austin Dillon at Richmond

Chastain said ethics went out the window in that moment, though he ultimately thought that what he did was “fine.”

“Obviously I feel like COTA was fine,” Chastain said. “I got moved; I covered the bottom in [Turn] 16 and AJ moved me off of that line. I think the biggest mistake there was that he didn’t move me far enough. He didn’t move me up into the rocks and into the tires. He gave me a chance to move him back and, in my opinion, if [Bowman] isn’t there, [Allmendinger] just goes wide in [Turn] 19 and he’s a couple car lengths back coming to the checkered and we run 1-2 or he finishes third.

“But yeah, I feel like [NASCAR will] look at all that. We’re not in those meetings. We’re not the ones deciding but they’re human. NASCAR is a bunch of humans making decisions and they’re looking at the total body of work.”

When it comes to this particular situation, Chastain is surely thanking his lucky stars that NASCAR revoked Dillon’s automatic playoff berth. Chastain fell out of a playoff position at Richmond and would have been even further back had Dillon’s victory stood.

With three regular season races remaining, Chastain is just behind Chris Buescher for the 16th and final playoff spot.