The Championship race at Pheonix saw Ryan Blaney walk away with the first Cup Series Championship of his career after a second-place finish behind Ross Chastain. Much of the post-race reaction revolved around the hard racing and blocking between the Team Penske driver, who was in his first Championship four race, and the Trackhouse Racing driver, who was not in the running for the title this time around.
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So was it the right thing for Chastain to do? To push hard, even when a championship was on the line for Blaney? Kyle Petty doesn’t think so.
Speaking on the NASCAR channel, the former driver expressed that he was not in the least bit surprised that it was Chastain of all drivers who did not seem to give any margin to the other drivers, being “a thorn in the side of just about everybody in the sport since he started winning races”.
During the race, Chastain raced the #12 car hard, not giving an inch to Blaney to make the pass easily. Petty saw no issue with that, saying, “I also believe it’s okay for Ross Chastain to take away the line of the second-place car, which was Ryan Blaney, no matter whether he is running for a Championship or not.”
What eventually happened was Blaney bumped Chastain’s car, something he admitted after the race to doing on purpose.
“Fu***ing right I hit him on purpose. I mean, yeah, I hit him on purpose. He blocked me on purpose 10 times. So, yeah, I hit him on purpose,” said Blaney during the post-race media session.
Does Kyle Petty think Ryan Blaney was at fault for being over-aggressive?
The NASCAR veteran expressed that he saw the exchange as just two guys who were racing hard and nothing more than that. Ross Chastain had every right to defend his position and Ryan Blaney had every right to get the #1 car out of his way, considering the stakes.
“It was so blatant. But is that right? Is that right for him to roll in and do it? I believe yes. I believe it’s okay for him to roll in and get into Ross and try to get Ross upset and try to get Ross out of the way,” added Petty.
Petty, like many others, expressed that this was a situation where two rights made a right, and this is something no fan or driver should complain about.
