Beyond violations of personal space, a lesson was learned to not take the hat off Ross Chastain’s head, especially in races that mean a great deal to the newly minted Coca-Cola 600 winner.
First, some backstory:
Trophies are what racers most strive towards in racing but many of them keep other mementos from their biggest achievements as well. For Chastain, those are the hats he wears on weekends where he wins a race or has a career benchmark.
“Every race car I ever drive I set the hat -- I have to have a hat with the hole in it so that I can put it on the shifter, and it rides on the transmission tunnel every race,” Chastain said. “That's the hat and I'll put that on the shelf. It means a lot to me, and I'm not going to give that away.”
A fan missed the memo and snatched it off his head as Chastain drove down pit road and received congratulations from those he passed on his way to Victory Lane.
“That was unfortunate,” Chastain said. “A guy was on pit road, he was super excited. He reached in and I high-fived him. I didn't know him. He just, like, grabbed my head. I thought, oh, he's just saying, ‘Oh, yeah, good job, buddy.’ Then he just pulled the hat. Then he did this little dance, and he said, ‘I got your hat, I got your hat.’
I was, like, ‘Give it back, and he ran away.’ I just shut the car off and I pointed. The NASCAR security (chief) Tony Lunders was there and the security group. I was like, ‘That's my winning hat.’ It rode in the car.”
Full video/audio of Hat Theft Auto from Ross Chastain's onboard in Coke 600 post-race.
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) May 26, 2025
(How about the guy in the red shirt by the way? Isn't he a handsome SOB?) https://t.co/on4lgvWJOj pic.twitter.com/SqcDpqp5il
“I was brutal with the words I was saying,” Chastain said. “I wanted the hat back. He was running away. Like, he knew what he was doing, and he grabbed it off my head. I didn't like that.”
Chastain did get it back.
“I did. Yes, I believe this is the hat. It looks very dirty, but yes, I did.”