Despite several instances of drivers getting heated and slamming into each other in July 6’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago street course, no drivers were penalized for rough driving in this week’s penalty report.
For most of those wrecks, that didn’t come as a surprise as they were racing deals. For example, despite it initially looking like Alex Bowman dumped Bubba Wallace, further looks at the replay show Wallace actually tried to clear himself and wasn’t. Plus, neither driver was really that mad at the other afterward.
But there was another wreck just a handful of laps before that looked pretty intentional, sounded pretty intentional and had another driver claiming it was intentional: Ross Chastain‘s contact with Joey Logano. And yet, Chastain was not penalized for it.
On the lap 63 restart of the 75-lap event, Logano restarted behind Chastain, and when the three-time Cup champion went to brake, he was hit from behind and into the No. 1 Chevrolet. But that’s not even what sent Chastain spinning. Someone else hit Kyle Larson into Chastain, which sent this year’s Coca-Cola 600 champion spinning.
After late-race contact, @joeylogano was not happy with @RossChastain. pic.twitter.com/oej7RqKuvd
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 6, 2025
The amazing thing about this ordeal is that despite getting spun, Chastain was able to quickly rejoin and just so happened to blend back in behind Logano. Sitting in the driver’s seat, it’s hard for a driver to tell who hit them from behind, and all Chastain knew was that the No. 22 restarted behind him. Add in Logano’s driving reputation and it’s easy to see why Chastain shipped the Team Penske driver the first chance he got. And not only did the retaliation impact Logano, it sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spinning into the wall as well, ending his day.
“Ross [Chastain] better get the f**king information right before he goes and wrecks somebody,” Logano said on the team radio. “There’s f**king six cars behind me wrecking into me, and then he destroys me from four [car lengths] back.”
Ironically, it was Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric who actually triggered the initial wreck involving Chastain. The No. 1 team told its driver such afterward, which is another pretty good indicator that Chastain spun Logano on purpose.
Logano confronted Chastain after the race, and he claimed that Chastain admitted to wrecking him on purpose when they spoke. The common saying in recent years is that NASCAR will only penalize someone if they admit to retaliating. After the spring Phoenix Raceway race in 2023, Denny Hamlin was fined $50,000 and docked 25 driver points after admitting on his podcast that he intentionally rubbed Chastain to drag him to the back of the field with him.
That being said, Chastain never admitted in any media that he did that it was intentional. The only person who heard him say that, if he did say that, was Logano, who could have made the whole thing up to get his rival in trouble. But if you look at Chastain’s body language in the talk with Logano — and this was pointed out by people who were there and saw it happen live as well — he looks pretty guilty and doesn’t really seem to be showing much remorse.
Joey Logano not happy with Chastain#NASCAR #GrantPark165 pic.twitter.com/lwXMu6LKuy
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) July 6, 2025
Also, look at how Chastain sent Logano vs. what Hamlin did to Chastain and tell me which driver should’ve been penalized. The latter is not even an intentional wreck.
Not to mention, the whole he-didn’t-admit-it argument doesn’t hold much weight anymore anyways. Chase Elliott and Wallace were each suspended one race in recent years for intentionally wrecking Hamlin and Larson, yet neither admitted it was on purpose.
Just last summer at Richmond Raceway, Austin Dillon‘s spotter may have been heard saying “wreck him,” but Dillon never admitted to wrecking Logano and Hamlin on purpose. For that, Dillon’s win did not count toward playoff eligibility, he and his team were docked 25 points and his spotter was suspended.
And speaking of Cindric, the culprit of this whole ordeal, he was fined 50 points and $50,000 earlier this year when he right-hooked Ty Dillon at Circuit of the Americas. He didn’t publicly admit to doing that.
When that incident occurred, Mike Forde, NASCAR managing director of racing communications, said on the podcast Hauler Talk that part of the reason Cindric wasn’t suspended was because it was on a road course, so the speeds were lower and it didn’t lead to a caution flag. This incident is probably the most comparable to Chastain’s since it happened on a street course. And while he didn’t flat out right-hook Logano, it did knock Stenhouse out of the race.
So why no penalty for Chastain? He shouldn’t have been suspended for wrecking Logano, but he should’ve been hit with a penalty similar to Cindric. Or since it wasn’t as severe, just dock him 25 driver points instead of 50 to make it similar to Hamlin’s penalty.
I’m not saying all of this to bash Chastain. His aggressive driving style is good for NASCAR, and a feud between him and Logano would be even better. Heck, if I thought the No. 22 had run me over and I had a chance to pay him back, I probably would’ve done the same even before getting all the context.
Just like Dale Earnhardt Jr. said about him a while back, I want Chastain to keep being that guy and to not change. He’s a fun personality, and that was on full display when he competed in an American Cornhole League event in Richmond, Va., just two days earlier.
. @RossChastain faked like he was going to do the watermelon smash, giving all of the ACL crew a minor heart attack 😂 He said had he won then he would’ve smashed it. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/mRXcTeO8zy
— Michael Massie (@m_massie22) July 5, 2025
The problem isn’t Chastain here, it’s the inconsistencies in NASCAR’s penalties. Because for every example listed above of someone getting penalized for rough driving, there’s another example of a driver getting off scot-free. Look no further than the long list of things Carson Hocevar has done in his NASCAR national series career to see how many times he either didn’t get penalized or didn’t get penalized enough. In the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race, Corey Heim barely got a slap on the wrist (fined $12,500) after his retaliation on Hocevar manipulated the championship battle.
Whenever one of these situations arise, it’s like the Wild West of officiating. You never know how severe the penalty will be or if the guilty driver will even be penalized at all.
I get that every situation is different, but aren’t the motives usually the same? One driver is intending to end another driver’s day. That’s the only thing that should be in consideration, not how high the speeds were, if it brought out a caution, etc.
All NASCAR fans and media alike want is clear and consistent officiating. An intentional wreck should either be a penalty or it shouldn’t.
Let’s pick one and stick with it.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.