The 2025 Chicago Street Race may have dodged the rain for the first time in three years, but that didn’t stop chaos from erupting early. Although Joey Logano and Ross Chastain steered clear of the Lap 4 pileup, the two eventually found themselves caught in a wreck that ended with tempers rising on pit road.
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The spark came on a lap 63 restart during the final stage, when Austin Cindric locked up the rear brakes heading into Turn 1 and slid straight into oncoming traffic. Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece took the brunt of the impact, with Larson being pushed into Chastain, who spun just ahead of the No. 22 Team Penske driver.
The No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver, clipped from behind, slid backward into the Turn 1 tire barriers but quickly got his car refired and back on track, with Logano squarely in his crosshairs. Believing Logano had run him over, seemingly unaware that Cindric had started the chain reaction, or simply unhappy about Logano crowding him in the corner, Chastain wasted no time retaliating.
Just one corner later, Chastain gave Logano a shot entering Turn 2, sending him straight into Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Both cars spun, and while neither suffered terminal damage, the incident dropped them in the order. Chastain salvaged a 10th-place finish, with Logano trailing close behind in 11th.
Once the checkered flag fell, the fireworks resumed on pit road. Logano climbed from his car and marched over to confront Chastain, leading to a heated exchange before the two drivers went their separate ways.
In his post-race interview, a visibly irritated Logano had some sharp words for Chastain, saying, “He admitted he wrecked me on purpose. He admitted it, which means he should get fined if he admittedly wrecked someone on purpose. That’s not okay.
When informed that Chastain may have been trying to retaliate against whoever spun him, Logano doubled down: “Typical Ross. He just sees red and does dumb stuff. That’s all. That’s twice this year on road courses at the end of these things I’ve been cost by Ross. Just over it.”
“He admitted it! He admitted he wrecked me! Which means he should get fined if he wrecked me on purpose!”@joeylogano talked about his convo with Ross Chastain #NASCAR #GrantPark165 pic.twitter.com/syQ9vpBd45
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) July 6, 2025
The tension between the two is nothing new. Their paths have crossed more than once this season, with earlier run-ins at COTA and Martinsville adding fuel to the fire. At Martinsville, a late-race aggressive block by Chastain, intended for Chase Briscoe, ended up taking out Logano instead. That prompted Logano to say Chastain “races like a jacka— every week.”
Adding a touch of irony to the Chicago aftermath, Stenhouse posted a video of a watermelon being smashed on social media, a not-so-subtle jab at Chastain, as he’s nicknamed the ‘Melon Man’ thanks to his eighth-generation watermelon farming roots.
