Christopher Bell calls Ross Chastain ‘The Wrecking Ball’ post-Richmond race

Another weekend of the NASCAR Cup Series bought itself another controversy on track, this time surrounding Ross Chastain. The Trackhouse Racing driver is never too far away from controversy due to his aggressive driving style on the track. He was labeled the cause of another wreck at Richmond Raceway.

The incident took place during the final stages of the Toyota Owners 400 at the Virginia track. The top five were seen jostling for position with a handful of laps to go. Among those cars up front were the #1 of Chastain, #20 of Bell, and #24 of William Byron. While running in the middle lane, Christopher Bell was seen trying to move up the racetrack just as Chastain was driving into the bottom lane.

The resulting maneuver caused the #20 Toyota Camry TRD driver to clip the rear of William Byron's car. It sent him into a spin, negating his chances of winning the race. Bell elaborated on the incident in a post-race interview and said:

"The wrecking ball (Ross Chastain) came in and made us three wide at the last second and there wasn't enough room to be three wide."

Bell further spoke about what he thought of Ross Chastain's driving after being involved in an incident late in the race and said:

"He didn't do anything wrong, that's just his memo. I feel bad for the #24 (William Byron) because he probably didn't get the memo that we're gonna be three-wide. I barely got the memo that we're three wide."

William Byron was a casualty of a run-in between other drivers on the track. However, his teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson, went on to log his first win of the 2023 Cup Series season.

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Ross Chastain speaks his mind on Christopher Bell calling him 'The Wrecking Ball'

Ross Chastain replied to comments he received from Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell after last Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. He said:

"He can say what he wants, like other guys, he walks right by me and doesn't say anything to me. I don't think I touched anybody, I was down there on my line."

Christopher Bell tweeted in the aftermath of the race and apologized to William Byron. He acknowledged the amount of room he had towards his left. However, there were no mentions of Ross Chastain in the tweet.

NASCAR goes live from Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend for the Food City Dirt Race, marking the second event of the short track swing in 2023.