Ross Chastain responds to Christopher Bell’s ‘wrecking ball’ comment: “He walks right by me and doesn’t say anything to me”

Ross Chastain got a new nickname after the checkered flag on Sunday (April 2) at Richmond Raceway, although he doesn't always agree with where it came from.

What is the name? "Wrecking ball."

Christopher Bell was asked to explain a pivotal moment shortly after the cars filed down pit road at the end of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race. On a restart with about 20 laps to go, Chastain got on the inside of Bell, and then Bell knocked into the left-rear of William Byron, spinning the 24 car out and immediately ruining an otherwise great day for Byron.

The move not only defined the race’s penultimate restart, but it will in some ways be how the race is remembered in the short term. Byron finished 24th after running in the Top 3 all day.

But Chastain's words landed him in the midst of yet another late-race controversy. In just a little more than a year in the Cup Series, the TrackHouse Racing driver has been in a lot of them. He's raced against Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. He rode a wall at Martinsville to get into the Championship 4 in 2022, which has never been done before and will never be done again.

On Sunday, Chastain made it absolutely clear that he did not believe he was to blame for the move.

"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 just down there on my line. ... I mean, if he’s gonna call me a wrecking ball, I just don’t understand.” Chastain said.

Chastain, who secured third place on the day, added,

“I didn’t touch anybody, and I got inside of the 20 entering Turn 1. That’s all I saw.”

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Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain have moved forward from the COTA incident

Daniel Suarez says he's been working on himself following clashes with teammates Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman last weekend at COTA, but he'll modify his racing style if NASCAR doesn't make changes to restarts on road courses.

“I’ve been trying to work on myself mostly during the week, trying to clear my mind and reset,” Suarez said Saturday at Richmond Raceway.

On Wednesday, NASCAR penalized Suarez $50,000 for impacting another vehicle on pit road after the race. Suarez collided with Chastain's car at the pit entry and then collided with the rear of Bowman's car when they were both on pit road.

After speaking this week, Chastain stated that he and Suarez have moved on from last week's incident.