You could feel the tensions rising between Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain as Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway came to a close, after several laps of contact-filled, hard racing.
That tension came to a boiling point with six laps to go, when both drivers, starting on the front row on the restart, came together in turns one and two, crashing into the outside wall, and eliminating their chances to score a victory.
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 14, 2023
Chastain, who led the second-highest number of laps in Sunday’s event, was forced to retire from the event and take a 29th-place finish. Meanwhile, Larson was able to continue, finishing 20th and on the lead lap.
Cliff Daniels, crew chief for Kyle Larson, came onto the radio immediately after the crash and expressed his displeasure with the move that took them out of contention for the victory.
“Why did he just run us right into the fence? How does that make any sense? That’s three races now that he’s taken us out of, Chevrolet. Good job. Good job. That’s three races that that 1 car has taken us out of.”
After the conclusion of the event, Chastain spoke to FOX Sports and Regan Smith about the accident, following his check-up at the infield care center.
“Full commit into one, I got really tight and drove up and turned myself,” Chastain told Regan Smith after the race. “I wanted to squeeze him, I wanted to push him up, we had been trading back and forth all day. I wanted to push him up for sure, but I definitely didn’t want to turn myself into the wall.”
When asked how he thought Larson would handle what transpired at the end of Sunday’s race, Chastain said: “I mean, I’m the one standing here talking to you.”
Larson refused to provide any commentary on the accident following the race, as he marched to the Hendrick Motorsports hauler immediately after the race, without speaking to any members of the media.
Staked out the 5 hauler in hopes that Larson was still there, but they have fully packed up. Here was him walking into the hauler after the race. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/wzXvmVhP44
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) May 14, 2023
Safe to say, that the attitude between Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain going forward probably isn’t going to be generally positive.
