NASCAR: 5 drivers who could retaliate against Ross Chastain

Drivers who could retaliate against Ross Chastain: No. 3 – Martin Truex Jr.

Looking at his results at Dover Motor Speedway in May and Atlanta Motor Speedway in July, you wouldn’t expect to hear that Martin Truex Jr. had cars capable of winning both races.

The common denominator at both events was Ross Chastain. Chastain threw a block on Truex on the final lap at Dover which sent Truex spinning on the backstretch before rolling to a 12th place finish. At Atlanta, Chastain was pushing Truex through turn one, which spun him out of second place and caused a huge wreck.

Following the Atlanta incident, Truex stated that Chastain was “making a bunch of enemies and people tend to remember that stuff when the playoffs come around”.

They haven’t had any run-ins since, but it’s no stretch to think that Truex may want revenge. His approach to the situation may be more complicated, as Chastain qualified for the playoffs and Truex himself came up just a few points short — points he would have had if not for the aforementioned run-ins.

With Truex out of the playoffs, NASCAR may judge retaliation more harshly, as they did in 2015 when Matt Kenseth, after being eliminated from the playoffs, retaliated against Joey Logano, who was still in the playoffs, during the round of 8 race at Martinsville Speedway.