Ross Chastain was chastised for NASCAR’s most famous pass

Once upon a time in NASCAR there was an unwritten rule: on the last lap, with the race on the line, anything goes.

But in 2022 at Martinsville (VA) Speedway, after Ross Chastain made perhaps the most dramatic pass in the sport’s history – scraping along the wall at full-throttle to pass five cars and punch his playoff ticket – NASCAR banned such further passes.

What does Chastain think about The Pass today?

“I’m proud of it,” he said Wednesday during a Music City tour to promote the June 1 Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

“It wasn’t planned,” Chastain said of his off-the-wall pass that has attracted 100 million views on the internet and social media, surpassing Dale Earnhardt’s famous 1987 “pass in the grass” at Charlotte.

“I made it out of desperation,” Chastain said. “I was running tenth going into the final turn, and knew if I didn’t get around at least five cars, I’d be eliminated from the playoffs. That was my last chance, and I took it.”

Among the five drivers Chastain passed – with a track-record burst of speed of 130 mph – was Denny Hamlin, who got bumped out of the playoffs.

“My season was on the line,” Chastain said. “I did what I had to do.”

He left several rumpled cars and ruffled feathers in his wake, with Hamlin the most vocal of the critics.

“They said I was gonna ruin the sport, and they got NASCAR’s attention,” Chastain said. “I was sitting next to (NASCAR CEO) Jim France at the drivers’ meeting when they announced the ban, and he was kinda smiling.”

NASCAR had a similar gripe-and-grin response to the iconic 1979 Daytona 500 infield brawl between Bobby and Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough.

“They called us in, chewed us out, and said we had embarrassed the sport on national TV,” Bobby said years later. “Then they used footage of the fight to promote every Daytona 500 afterwards.”

Long-time fans complain that NASCAR goes too far in reigning in daring moves like Chastain’s, taming a sport built on beating and banging. Chastain, however, cuts it some slack.

“NASCAR has done a lot to promote safety,” he said. “It has to walk a fine line.”

Chastain, who drives for Nashville-based Trackhouse Racing, had a whirlwind Music City visit, which included a Pearl Jam concert on Tuesday night and throwing out the first pitch at a Sounds game on Wednesday, sandwiched around a flurry of media stops.

“It was busy but fun,” said Chastain, who returns in three weeks for the Superspeedway’s fifth annual Cup race.

He won it in 2023 and celebrated in Victory Circle by smashing a watermelon – a tradition that earned him the nickname, “Melon Man” and pays homage to growing up on a watermelon farm in Alva, Fla.

And as for Chastain’s dramatic wall-banger pass, it’ll always be special; NASCAR says there’ll never be another one like it.