The truth behind the phone call that supposedly tamed NASCAR’s Watermelon Man

gettyimages-2304018195 — HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 07: Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Busch Light Chevrolet, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 07, 2026 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Ever since team owner Rick Hendrick and driver Ross Chastain talked on the phone after the Darlington race in May of 2023, conventional wisdom has become accepted truth—that a tongue-lashing from Hendrick somehow neutered Chastain’s aggressive driving style.

Make no mistake. Hendrick was incensed that Chastain wrecked one of his drivers—Kyle Larson—at the Lady in Black.

“I don’t care if he’s driving a Chevy,” Hendrick said after the race. “I don’t care. I’ve told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you’re going to get it back.”

The assumption has always been that the phone call between Hendrick and Chastain took the same tenor, but Chastain said that simply isn’t true.

“There’s a lot that’s always, ever since then, that’s been made about Hendrick, like Rick Hendrick, and the phone call we had,” Chastain said. “I laughed because there was only two people on that phone call. And the way it went was so inspiring to me, because he could have said anything.

“But the fact that he encouraged me to race, and, like, we had a meaningful conversation that, honestly, it was in the morning, and I remember walking outside, and it was right after Darlington, and I was like, ‘Wow, I can run through a brick wall right now.’”

Adding credence to the conventional wisdom, Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing cars have sustained a dip in performance since then. In 2026, Chastain has suffered through a winless season he’d prefer to forget.

“It’s just so unfortunate that the timing lined up that way, because people, they truly believe,” Chastain said. “I have people come up to me all the time and believe that I purposely am driving in a way to drive slower and to drive cautiously.

“And I’m like, I don’t know how you think that’s possible in the Cup Series. I mean, I am driving into the corner, through the center of the corner, off the corner as fast as I can.”