"You're a bit of a throwback": Dale Earnhardt Jr. likens Ross Chastain to old school NASCAR drivers

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently opened up on his admiration for Ross Chastain's aggressive driving style. The Trackhouse Racing driver burst onto the spotlight in 2022 with his ruthless style of racing on the track, which often got him into trouble and in other drivers' bad books.

A major storyline of Chastain's 2022 season, apart from his Hail Melon move at Martinsville, were several incidents with Denny Hamlin, who he had a brief but strong rivalry with. Because of his driving style and his image in the garage, Chastain carved out a unique place for himself in NASCAR mostly owing to his style.

This was something which Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently discussed with the #1 driver on the episode of the Dale Jr. Download after the Homestead playoff race.

"You put people in uncomfortable situations. You're a bit of a throwback. So back in the 80s and the 90s, guys were really physical and aggressive with their cars, more so than they are now. The cars, you can't just, toe links and all these different things. You can still be rough with the car but you are a bit similar in how the mentality used to be in the 80s and 90s without doing anything wrong. You race people as hard as you can race them but you put people in uncomfortable situations," Dale Jr. said about Chastain. [5:40]

The NASCAR Hall of Famer claimed that what Chastain does is what a racecar driver would want to do ideally. And that a racecar driver would love to make his rivals uncomfortable on the track 'all the time', something Dale Jr. remarked, Chastain is 'really good' at.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. was reminded of the situation around his father from the late 80s with Ross Chastain's 2023 scuffle

Following the race at Kansas last season, Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson got into a scuffle with the #1 driver punching the rookie in the face. This instantly became a viral moment and caught the attention of many experts and insiders.

One of those insiders was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who remarked that Ross Chastain is doing things similar to the Intimidator.

"When dad was out there doing real similar things on the racetrack, he flat out dumped people and would get out. He wouldn’t really apologize for it as much as Ross does, but he would get out and say, ‘Hey man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. That wasn’t dirty driving. I got into him. My mistake,'" Earnhardt said on his podcast in 2023.

Dale Jr. further mentioned that there were people around his father in the late 80s, who saw a marketing opportunity with his personality. And thus the Intimidator persona was born, "through markering, through souvenirs", which according to Dale Jr. went across the country 'if not global.'

The former HMS driver claimed that The Intimidator persona or the 'Man in Black' nickname weren't things that the 7x Cup champion proclaimed for himself. Instead, Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed that was all 'a marketing campaign', which took off from a t-shirt and a hat.