Ryan Blaney on racing Ross Chastain hard in NASCAR championship: 'F***ing right I hit him on purpose'

Ryan Blaney captured the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series title on Sunday, but it wasn’t without some drama involving Ross Chastain.

While Chastain wasn’t a part of the Championship 4, he was looking to get back to Victory Lane at Phoenix. Instead of simply pulling over and allowing Blaney or any of the other title contenders pass him, Chastain raced them hard and fair, and ended up victorious when it was all said and done.

It made for some exciting moments, but Blaney obviously wasn’t happy with Chastain, as he attempted to bump him out of the way when they were racing for the lead at one point.

After celebrating his title victory, even though he didn’t win the race, Blaney was asked about the incident between him and Chastain, and the NASCAR champion didn’t pull and punches.

“The fact that Ross said I raced him hard, he blocks 3 lanes …” “F***ing right I hit him on purpose,” Blaney said, via CBS Sports’ Tom Bowles. “He blocked me on purpose 10 times.”

Regardless of how frustrated Blaney was with Chastain’s driving, it was nice to see non-title contenders racing for the win at Phoenix, which hasn’t been the case over the years.

In the end, Blaney still got the championship, and Chastain gets the trophy and Phoenix. It all worked out for both drivers, even if the Penske star had some displeasure to voice with the Trackhouse wheelman.

More on Ryan Blaney, 2023 NASCAR Cup Series title

For years, people have thought of Ryan Blaney as a potential champion. He’s won some races here and there. However, it felt like he had underperformed at times.

This season, with three wins, a dominant playoff run, and a great championship race, he proved his supporters right.

Team Penske now has back-to-back championships in the Cup Series for the first time. You look at Blaney’s performance in the six races of the season, he was fantastic. Two wins, a top-10, and two runner-up finishes. He didn’t win this race, but he won the championship. 

In the youngest Championship 4 ever, Ryan Blaney wins the battle of this generation of racers. Larson is a champion and finished second in this playoff battle. Byron and Bell are both future champions, or they at least have the potential to be. 

No matter what happens from here, Ryan Blaney will forever be a NASCAR Cup Series champion. He wasn’t part of the NASCAR 75 Greatest list, but we’ll bet you he’s part of the 100 Greatest when that list comes out.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.