Dale Earnhardt-sized opportunity is open for Ross Chastain and NASCAR, Dale Jr says

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Ross Chastain’s aggressiveness on the racetrack has irked some of his fellow drivers, and it all came to a head on Sunday when Noah Gragson confronted him after the race in Kansas.

Chastain ended up clocking Gragson with a punch before NASCAR officials could separate the two drivers. Gragson said afterward he was "sick and tired" of Chastain’s aggressiveness. Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Brennan Poole have also had run-ins with Chastain over the course of the 2023 season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. offered a different take on the situation. He said in the latest episode of the "Dale Jr. Download" podcast that Chastain does a lot of things similar to what his father did. Dale Earnhardt, known as "The Intimidator" during his days on the track, rubbed a lot of drivers the wrong way and backed up his own aggressiveness with victories.

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Although Dale Earnhardt won only one NASCAR Cup race during the season, he really did not care if he won just the one event, because it was the big one he had been trying to win his entire career, the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. (ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)

"Dad was out there doing real similar things on the racetrack," Earnhardt Jr. said. "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 added that he sees a marketing opportunity for NASCAR, Trackhouse Racing and Chastain.

"People around Dale Earnhardt