“Why not just put a damn tire on it?”; “This is ridiculous”: NASCAR fans call out the new towing system amidst Ross Chastain wreck 

Fans did not like the way NASCAR towed Ross Chastain's Chevrolet back to the garage after the latter cut his left-rear tire during the practice session at Iowa Speedway on Friday. They felt that it would have saved more time if the broken tire had just been replaced on the spot.

The incident with Ross Chastain's Trackhouse Racing Busch Light For The Farmers Chevy brought out the second red flag which extended the 50-minute practice session by 13 minutes. The other one came out when Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell blew his right front tire.

Renowned journalist Bob Pockrass posted a few shots of Chastain's car being towed back to the garage and wrote:

"NASCAR has a new system on how to not damage a car when towing with a flat tire. Obviously would want to be quicker but typically first few times take time."

The usual norm is that if a car breaks down or spins during the qualifying laps and is not able to drive back to the pit road, a tow truck will be sent to salvage the car and bring it back to the pit road. However, this time, two tow trucks came to Chastain's rescue.

The Athletic's Jeff Gluck reflected on the same saying,

"Practice was delayed while NASCAR uses two tow trucks to lift up the Chastain car so it doesn't ruin the splitter."

Several fans reacted to Gluck's post with one suggesting that towing the car all the way back to the garage was a waste of time.

"Why not just put a damn tire on it?" the fan said.

Another fan re-echoed the previous comment and said,

"This is ridiculous. Why not just put a damn tire on it and let Chastain drive it back to the garage."

Here are a few other comments on NASCAR sending two trucks to tow Ross Chastain's ride back to the pit road.

"Just think if they had some guys that was able to change tires really quickly. Might be something to look into," said a fan.

"they either need to pause the clock or add time to this practice," added another fan.

"Tell me that this is better than sending out 2 guys with a jack and a tire," someone commented.

"NASCAR has really dropped the ball on developing a specialized vehicle for towing the Next Gen car. They developed the Air Titan. Time to develop the "Tow Titan"..." A fan joked.

However, the dismal start to the session did not concern Ross Chastain as he put on fresh tires and recorded his fastest lap of the day and qualified 6th. Reflecting on his bounce back, Chastain said, as reported by the Des Moines Register,

"There's no telling what happened. We went back out and made more laps on another set."

Ross Chastain to drive in both Xfinity and Cup Series races at Iowa's maiden NASCAR week

Iowa Speedway is expected to witness a NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time in its 18 years of racing history. Additionally, the track is busy hosting a triple-header which includes a NASCAR ARCA Menards Series race, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race, and a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Ross Chastain is the sole Cup Series regular who is also competing in the Xfinity Series. However, he will serve as the replacement for DGM Racing driver, Josh Bilicki, who is unable to drive his #92 machine after an injury that he suffered during practice.

Elated at the opportunity, Chastain took to social media and said,

"Excited to be back at @iowaspeedway to run both the Cup and Xfinity series races! Additionally, I’ll be working with the @IowaGTSB to promote safe driving habits."

Ross Chastain currently sits 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings with 453 points to his name. He has led 118 laps besides picking up two top 5s and 6 top 10s.