Ross Chastain warned not to 'f*** with' Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after trading paint to end Stage 2 at Dover

Ross Chastain was warned not to mess with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover on Sunday. Chastain and Stenhouse traded paint at the end of Stage 2, and that’s when Chastain’s spotter, Brandon McReynolds, gave him some advice.

“Don’t f*** with him,” McReynolds told Ross Chastain. “He’s already two laps down.” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. pulled alongside Chastain during the stage caution, but no additional contact was made.

Ross Chastain door slammed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. down into turn 1 as the caution flag flew to end the stage.

The No. 1 team told Ross “don’t f*ck with him, he’s already two laps down.”

This was them once they came back around…Stenhouse pulled alongside Chastain this time. No… pic.twitter.com/WCbG4Y7mHS

— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) July 20, 2025

It’s clear Chastain’s team did not want to antagonize Stenhouse, who is not shy about confronting drivers. Stenhouse got after Carson Hocevar for spinning him at Nashville and Mexico City. Last year, Stenhouuse got into a physical altercation with Busch after the All-Star Race.

Ross Chastain speaks out on incident with Daniel Suarez

Chastain’s incident with Stenhouse came after he had an on-track issue with his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez at Sonoma last week. On Lap 45 of the race, Chastain’s No. 1 Chevy tangled with Suarez’s No. 99, leading to him to fall to 29th place at the time.

“I wrecked him, I mean, he should be upset, that team should be upset, Chastain said on Saturday, per NASCAR.com. “So I went to the crew chief and him, and wanted them to make sure they knew that they knew. I wanted to make sure that, like, it was the last thing I wanted to do. And for the first half of the brake zone, I thought I was fine. And then the second half of the brake zone, I realized I’m going too fast, and I should have reacted better, and I didn’t. So that’s just a non-negotiable to wrecking, spinning teammates out. We had conversations this week.”

Suarez got the last laugh, though, as he finished 14th while Chastain finished 24th. However, it was a small win for Suarez as Trackhouse announced that he won’t return to the team in 2026.

Chastain’s focus is finishing the regular season strong, so he has momentum in the playoffs. The 32-year-old clinched a spot in the postseason after winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May.