Ross Chastain recently shared his thoughts on NASCAR's in-season tournament which would reward the winner with $1 million prize money. Like most of the other drivers, the Trackhouse Racing driver was welcoming towards the forthcoming tournament.
During a media session ahead of this Sunday's million-dollar paying All-Star race at North Wilkesboro, a journalist asked Chastain his thoughts on the in-season tournament, to which he revealed that he's had experience with such competitions before.
"I mean, of course, when it comes down to it, I've had experience with triple-truck challenge and dash-for-cash. It's impossible not to pay attention to the other people. We were just talking about how greedy and selfish, I want to win, I want to win points, I want to win lap times, and I want to win money," Chastain said, as per Frontstretch. [2:50].
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"So of course when we get there we'll know how we're racing against but you can't drive any harder, you can't do any thing to beat one guy that you don't do every other week."
Another journalist put forward the opinion of Ryan Blaney to Chastain, as the Team Penske driver proposed that the All-Star race 'doesn't pay enough' and the in-season does. Chastain was asked whether according to him, the All-Star paid enough.
"It's all a lot of money to me. I'm still trying to get used to the numbers being thrown around," he replied.
But while on one hand, Ross Chastain is still getting used to the numbers and wanting to win it all, Denny Hamlin is also considering the bigger picture of what all the in-season tournament can lead to.
Denny Hamlin on the possibilities of the in-season tournament for NASCAR
Denny Hamlin, whose bracket challenge from last season ended up inspiring NASCAR for the in-season tournament, also elaborated on how he thought the forthcoming competition would benefit everyone. Hamlin claimed that this tournament would be "a competition within a competition."
As per the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, it would create more storylines, more drama with potentially a high seed driver beating a low seed driver. Moreover, Hamlin pointed to the in-season tournament giving enough things for everyone to talk about throughout the week instead of the action just being focused around the weekend. As per NASCAR.com, he also mentioned how they could be on the same path as football.
"Certainly in the world where I believe that football took off in many, many, many years ago is getting people involved in fantasy. All of a sudden, people cared about their fantasy teams, not their favorite teams," Hamlin described.
"And this creates something like that, where you’re going to have a Chase Elliott fan rooting for Denny Hamlin one week because they’ve got me in their bracket. I mean, it’s going to create those storylines."
In the end, the #11 driver deemed the in-season tournament as something "really, really positive" which could very well be the "jumping-off point" for NASCAR into a place where it can grow like other sports.
