When you get NASCAR content on The Pat McAfee Show you know that something big just happened. Ross Chastain was this week’s guest. We saw Pat invite Chase Elliott on his program when the Most Popular Driver returned from his leg injury. Now, it’s Chastain repping stock car drivers on the sports podcast.
The Melon Man has a way of making headlines with his driving on the track and his fighting off of it. Last year it was his wall ride at Martinsville. Now, he’s getting into scraps on pit road and coming out on top.
The only awkward thing, Ross Chastain had to get back to work on Monday with his training partner… Noah Gragson. So, did any other confrontations happen?
“Noah and I have known each other for several years,” Chastain explained on the show. “We train together, we prepare together and we’ve been in separate series for a little bit. Now we’re both in the Cup Series exactly where we want to be. So we’re both trying to prove ourselves, we’re both trying to get to where we want to be and stay here in the Cup Series. It’s not easy, there’s only 36 seats.
“We’re good. We talked on Monday on the phone and then we were together testing some micro sprint cars Monday night. We’ve worked out together this week. It’s good, it’s done and over with and we’ve been able to move on and laugh about it now. Weren’t exactly laughing on Sunday.”
Even though the two drivers train together, Ross Chastain knew he had to hold his ground on pit road. If you let just anyone come in and walk over you, then it will never end.
Ross Chastain learned to fight in the pits from his dad
It feels like every young boy has a lesson learned on fighting from their dad at some point. For me, it was “no fight is a fair fight.” For Ross Chastain, it had a little more to do with racing week in and week out. But, it remains the same.
“My dad told me for as long as I can remember that you defend yourself and your pit,” Chastain explained to The Pat McAfee Show.
When you grow up a watermelon farmer who races on the weekend, you better know how to fight. A farmer/racer that doesn’t know how to fight sounds more like an oxymoron than anything.
Those lessons learned in the pits of local race tracks clearly paid off. Ross Chastain has not been in a lot of fights, but he’s been in enough to show that he knows what he’s doing. While he and Noah have seemingly squashed the beef, who knows who will come up to Chastain next and test him?
