Kyle Petty dismisses Rick Hendrick’s recent criticism of Ross Chastain’s driving style.
Earlier this week team owner Rick Hendrick issued a warning to Ross Chastain after Kyle Larson was wrecked for the third time in the last four races due to TrackHouse Racing No.1 aggressive behavior on the race track.
Chastain’s late crash off a restart took himself and HMS star driver Kyle Larson out of contention for the victory as they both were battling for the lead at Darlington on Sunday.
Jeff Gordon hits out at NASCAR for not sanctioning Ross Chastain for restart infraction
“I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevrolet if he wrecks our cars,” Hendrick said, via NBC Sports. “I don’t care. I’ve told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back. If you don’t do it, they’ll run all over you.
I’m loyal to Chevrolet, but when somebody runs over us, then I expect my guys to hold their ground. I’m not going to ask them to yield just because of Chevrolet.”
Former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and now NBC Sports analyst gave a different opinion while speaking of the Trackhouse No.1 driver.
Petty believes Chastain doesn’t fit the Hendrick style. However, that’s more than alright to him.
“He’s not, and let’s be honest, he is not a Rick Hendrick style driver,” said Petty. “Ross is not. Kyle Busch wasn’t. Kyle Busch has gone on to win 60+ races and two championships. You don’t — everybody’s not a Hendrick style driver. Everybody’s not a Penske style driver. But he is a Trackhouse style driver.
“Let me tell you something, I don’t know if you can see my eyes, but they’re brown, and I’m fed up to my dark brown eyes with that,” Petty responded, asked about Hendrick’s comments via NBC Sports.
“Somebody needs to go back in history and see guys that have driven with that much dedication. That much passion. That much friggin’ commitment, that have won championship. Cale Yarborough. I mean, we can go down a list of guys.
“Ross Chastain would fit in at a lot of organizations and make them better.”
Kyle Larson finished 20th and Chastain dropped to 29th.