Folks, those of you who missed the Truck Series race at Michigan—let’s say, you missed one for the books. After 72 long races of near misses and heartbreak, Stewart Friesen finally kicked the monkey off his back and parked it in Victory Lane. Wheeling the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota like a man possessed, the Canadian edged out Grant Enfinger by just 0.111 seconds in a triple overtime finish, which had the fans on their feet and jaws on the floor.But this race did not just deliver a feel-good story—it delivered carnage. On a late restart, things went from tense to terrifying. It was pure chaos—multiple caution flags, bastard tempers, and a whole lot of ‘what just happened?’ energy. And right in the thick of it… is Ross Chastain, the man who can’t seem to escape the drama, even when he’s not looking for it.Ross Chastain’s front row to chaosRoss Chastain’s return to the truck series was anything but quiet. The Watermelon Man came to Michigan with speed, swagger, and a fast Niece truck but left with a crushed rear end, a shredded finish, and the front row seat to one of the wildest melees of the season. After charging to the front and briefly leading the race with just over 10 laps to go, Chastain got caught in the kind of restart mayhem that could only happen in the Craftsman Truck Series. And if you ask him, it wasn’t just racing—it was an all-out war.In the post-race interview with Bob Pockrass, Ross Chastain laid out what happened in true Ross fashion—honest, chaotic, and just a little bit baffled. “Yeah, I let him get to my right rear into one and should have never let that happen. I just left him too much of a lane out there, and then he stalled me into one, so I ran wide open, and as he went by me, I was crashing so glad he saved it, glad I saved it. I think, well, it cut his left rear tire down, so I hate that for those guys. But yeah, I still don’t really know how I saved that,” he said, referencing a heart-stopping moment with Carson Hocevar. Chastain, who was hanging on by a thread in that moment, trying to muscle his way past Grant Enfinger and Gio Ruggerio, was just the prelude to the real demolition derby.Further, Ross Chastain did not hold back on calling out Tanner Grey, the No. 15 driver. He said, “The push came really hard from behind. It felt like a couple trucks connected to come through the 15 to me. I haven’t seen a great replay yet, but I definitely was getting pushed before the restart zone even started.” Ross Chastain on his wild save and then the wreck that ended his race. @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/ttr2rdjqw3— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 7, 2025Ross claimed he was already getting shoved before the restart zone even began, which left him out of line and ripe for disaster. Moments later, chaos ensues as Chastain gets hooked in the middle of the field, triggering a multi-truck pileup that collects race dominators like Corey Heim, Daniel Hemric, and Ruggiero. The resulting crash was a scene straight out of a Michael Bay movie—flames, smoke, torn-up trucks, and more yellow flags than a beach with shark warnings. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but you get the point, right?Before all that, it looked like Ross was on his way to another heroic win-from-nowhere story, mirroring his zero-to-hero Cup series race at Nashville. He started strong, finishing eighth in stage one and sixth in stage two, methodically climbing the leaderboard. With just over 20 laps remaining, he passed Ruggiero and Enfinger, throwing massive blocks and wrestling the No. 45 Niece Chevy into the lead. But as it often goes in NASCAR’s most unpredictable series, one slip, one shove, one mistimed push—and the whole plan goes out the window.Meanwhile, Tanner Gray, whose truck was at the center of the controversial push, managed to limp his way to 17th place. While Gray was just trying to survive the madness, an inadvertent contact with Chastain helped trigger the mass that tore up the front of the field and took Chastain’s No. 45 from the race leader to 26th in the final standings. Talk about a fall from grace.In the end, Stewart Friesen walked away as the hero, but Ross Chastain left Michigan as the poster child of how quickly things can unravel in the truck series. “That’s just bad to the bone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing. It’s, you push your lane,” Ross said with a shrug. Whether it was bad luck, bad timing, or just the nature of three-wide madness, Chastain’s day had everything but the finishing reserved. He still found a silver lining, ” I were really competitive and so for Team Chevy, everybody at JF Electric, Precision, and DQS, that’s really what we want here this weekend and keep showing that we’re a strong Chevy team.” Spoken like a man who’s been through the wringer—and already gearing up to do it all over again.Denny Hamlin reflects on a tame Ross ChastainIn the chaos of the heavy early days of the Next Gen era, no one stirred up more headlines than Ross Chastain. Behind the wheel of the No. 1 Trackhouse Chevy, Ross became NASCAR’s ultimate disruptor, pulling off bold passes, wrecking front turners, and redefining what aggressive driving looks like. But his highlight reel came with a cost; nobody paid more than Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin.Their on-track feud became one of the biggest points. In a recent Actions Detrimental video, Hamlin finally opened up about the turning point: “We saw with Ross, eventually I was like, ‘Oh, I’m done screwing around with this guy. I’m going to have to do something,’ and even to this day, I feel like I didn’t do enough. But it was enough to get the point across, and it was enough to then get some meaningful dialogue between us to where I’m like, ‘Man, where are we at? How can we—when’s this going to stop?” Even though he admitted he didn’t do enough, it was enough to force a real conversation between the two—and eventually, a ceasefire.Still, then, Chastain has noticeably toned things down. The wild swings have made room for calculated moves, and the reckless intensity has simmered into controlled games. Whether that evolution sticks, there’s something only time can tell.The post Ross Chastain Leads the Victims List on a Difficult Day at Michigan appeared first on EssentiallySports.