How Is Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain’s Relationship After Ugly Moments in NASCAR Title Race?

The Championship race at Phoenix saw a war of words between title winner Ryan Blaney and race winner Ross Chastain. Both of the drivers had a heated battle during the race and neither really appreciated it.

During the conversation with Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Blaney had spoken about receiving more than 300 congratulatory messages. He was asked if out of the 300 or so congratulatory messages he received, Ross Chastain also conveyed his wishes.

Blaney responded, “I did not. We actually saw each other after the race. And we laughed about it. We joked about it. And I congratulated him for winning the race and he congratulated me for winning the title and we were fine. We were joking about it afterward when I saw him leaving the media center.”

Pockrass further asked the 2023 Cup Series champion if he had seen Chastain after they both made negative comments about each other in the media center and if they had already resolved the issue through conversation.

Blaney replied, “He was leaving the media center and I was walking in there and we were just joking around and laughing about it. We were fine with it. I congratulated him and he congratulated me and we were good. We just laughed about it afterward.”

Ryan Blaney was aware of Ross Chastain not wanting to wreck him

Pockrass mentioned that Chastain was pretty clear about helping out the other Chevy drivers by holding the Team Penske driver up for the win. But the watermelon man had clarified having no intention to wreck Blaney under any circumstance.

Thereafter, Blaney stated, “I knew he wasn’t going to wreck me. He was making it really hard on me for multiple reasons — trying to help Chevy win it and stuff like that. I understand that.”

“But at the time, I was frustrated because this is your championship, you’re trying to find ways to get around somebody and they keep blocking your every move. Just moments of frustration for sure, but that’s part of it.”

At the end of the day, it seems that the two have reconciled with each other and moved past the incident that occurred between them.