Fire on Fridays: Has Political Correctness Ruined Ross Chastain?

In the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, extraterrestrial beings would capture a person and replace them with an identical copy, or a pod person. The pod people looked exactly like the humans they replaced, but they were more dull and emotionless versions.

It really feels like the Chastain we see every Sunday now is a pod person.

He’s a stark contrast from the lovable, charming, funny farm boy who had transcended into a sort of folk hero in his first decade in NASCAR. Fans grew to like and appreciate Chastain in the late 2010s as he scratched and clawed to get underfunded teams the best finish possible.

It was a sad day when Ganassi had to shutter its NXS team, because it felt like Chastain had lost the best opportunity he’d ever get. But instead of losing faith, the Florida man went back to grinding, nearly winning a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title in the process. That made the fans like and appreciate him even more, and his blue-collar approach got him back to the NASCAR Cup Series with first Ganassi and then Trackhouse Racing.

When Chastain got hooked up with the latter, he immediately blossomed into a star on the Cup circuit. He started winning races, and along the way, started what the hosts of the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast called the “Don’t Give a F**k Tour.

Then came the Hail Melon at Martinsville Speedway, where Chastain rode the wall to pick up enough spots to make the Championship 4 in 2022. It went viral, reaching far beyond NASCAR’s circle, with many who didn’t even follow NASCAR learning the name Chastain. More and more fans were seen wearing Chastain merchandise, and he seemed like he had the potential to become the face of NASCAR. The next week, he followed it up by wrecking Elliott, again, and finishing runner-up in the championship.

I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevrolet if he wrecks our cars,” Hendrick said. “I don’t care, and I told Chevrolet that. I’m loyal to Chevrolet, but when somebody runs over us, then I expect my guys to hold their ground. I’m not going to ask them to yield just because of Chevrolet.”

It’s unknown what happened behind the scenes between Hendrick, Chevy, Trackhouse and Chastain, but from that point to now, Chastain has been a noticeably different driver on the track. He’s also gone from being a media darling, someone you could always count on for a good quote, to someone who only tends to do media when required. That’s when the pod person took over.

Yes, there have been moments of the old Chastain. He’s won three races since then, including the championship race at Phoenix Raceway in 2023, where he pissed eventual champion Blaney off by blocking him up and down the track.