Ross Chastain on Daytona: “I definitely need to garner the trust of the other drivers”
During day two of Daytona 500 media availabilities, I had a chance to speak with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ross Chastain.
We talked about the numerous wrecks that he either caused or was directly involved with last year. Two wrecks, in particular, may have damaged Ross Chastain’s reputation on the superspeedways. The first one came in last year’s Daytona 500. Chastain with two laps to go tried a daring move under the no.37 of Ryan Preece and clipped the apron. He ended up taking himself and most of the top ten out of the race.
A second more controversial wreck came in the August Xfinity race at Daytona. Ross had contact with his teammate, AJ Allmendinger, on the last lap of the race and this took both of them out of contention for victory.
I decided to ask Ross: “Do you feel that you need to garner the trust of the other drivers before the Daytona 500, or because of your aggressive driving style, does it even matter to you?”
Ross Chastain gave me a very surprising answer to this question.
“I definitely need their trust.”
This statement is such a stark difference of tone from the aggressive lone wolf driver we have come accustomed to over the years. Ross then followed up with this:
“I think once we’re out there racing. I’ll try to do my best to help my line move forward. Yeah, I’ve made mistakes. There is no way around it. I’ve cost my team’s money, points, and chances at wins. I can only try to be better.”
Ross Chastain continues his preparations to make his third start in the Daytona 500 on February 14th.
