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Ross Chastain started in P20 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, but he elevated to finish P6 on the afternoon. He thought he could’ve competed for the win during the final run in the FireKeepers Casino 400, but the Trackhouse Racing star realized he didn’t have anything for race-winner Denny Hamlin.
While Hamlin made his charge to the front, he whizzed by Chastain, and that’s when it began to sink in for the Florida native that he wasn’t going to Victory Lane. Still, he had an impressive drive, finishing just outside the top five. Chastain evaluated his afternoon while speaking with the media afterwards.
“We saved fuel the whole second-half of the run, so we were fine there at the end and I was able to start pushing hard again. I couldn’t really make much more lap time. You’re off the gas for 20 laps and you think, ‘Oh, I’m giving up all this lap time,’ and you go and get a tenth back on a big track like this. I think we finished about where we should have,” Chastain stated, via NBC Sports.
“When (Denny Hamlin) passed me on that last run, I was like, ‘I don’t have that,’ so hats off to those guys. They’ve been impressive. We just haven’t been quite that good to drive up and pass those guys, but it was a solid sixth-place finish for the No. 1 Chevrolet team.”
Even though Chastain couldn’t get to the front to compete for the win in Michigan, a P6 is nothing to scoff at. It continues a trend of consistent, impressive finishes for the Trackhouse Racing wheelman.
On the season, Chastain has one win, coming in the Coca-Cola 600 a couple of weeks ago. He’s P8 overall in the point standings, amassing eight top tens and three top fives, along with 158 laps led. Additionally, the 32-year old has been the flag bearer by a wide margin for Trackhouse in 2025.
While Chastain didn’t have enough to get to Hamlin on Sunday, he’ll have other chances to contend throughout the summer. He already has his first win, locked into the playoffs. Now, it’ll be about stacking checkered flags over the next few weeks.
One thing is for sure, Ross Chastain has become a driver you have to keep your eye on week-in and week-out. He can contend for the win at any track on the schedule, even if Denny Hamlin got the best of him this weekend.
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Packers starter hits back at Matt LaFleur, calls for 'bus fine'
Matt LaFleur is earning the ire of several of his Green Bay Packers players early in training camp. On Tuesday, LaFleur punished offensive tackle Rasheed Walker for his altercation with defensive end Kingsley Enagbare. However, the most interesting interaction of the day came between LaFleur and tight end Tucker Kraft. Per Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, LaFleur called out Kraft for two questionable fumbles during the first week of practice. Both "fumbles" came after the play was over or when the ball fell out of bounds. "Certainly, we all know what kind of player Tucker Kraft is and can be," LaFleur said. "He can’t allow Evan Williams to reach around and punch a ball out, so it is challenging everybody and hopefully that makes us that much better.” The third-year tight end took issue with LaFleur calling him out in front of the media and blamed the coaching staff for implementing practice rules that made it easy for offensive players to fumble. "I’d say a lot of the times — there’s certain rules you play with in practice, like just letting the defense punch repeatedly," Kraft said. "You’re not allowed to stiff-arm. I guess all I have are excuses. Yes, I am working on not fumbling the ball in practice." Schneidman said Kraft answered the question with a tone of sarcasm. Kraft was frustrated that he couldn't defend the ball by stiff-arming a defender trying to poke the ball from his undefended arm. Kraft acknowledged that during practice, he has to "play by the rules" LaFleur makes and is trying to work on having a "yes sir, no sir" attitude with his head coach. He then made a vague reference about a "bus fine" and accused LaFleur of throwing him under the bus in front of the media. Schneidman believes the tight end might be calling for Green Bay to fine LaFleur after his discouraging quote Tuesday morning. "So yes, the Packers’ third-year tight end might be calling for his head coach to be fined — not by the league, of course, but by the team — for what he perceived as throwing him under the bus," Schneidman wrote. "Is Kraft being serious about fining LaFleur? "Probably not. Is he peeved LaFleur called him out? It sure seems like it." LaFleur might do better to have a conversation with Kraft before dragging his name into news conferences with reporters. It's clear Tucker doesn't see eye-to-eye with LaFleur about fumbles. This is a good reminder to those getting overly excited or nervous reading practice reports that what happens at practice should be taken with a grain of salt. Most likely, Tucker is going to be fine.
Marlins Asking for Yankees Top Prospect
It appears the New York Yankees' trade talks with the Miami Marlins are progressing, and one of the Bronx Bombers' top prospects has been front and center during negotiations. According to MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the Yankees and Marlins have engaged in ongoing dialogue surrounding right-handed starting pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera. In exchange for either player, however, Miami has asked for outfielder Spencer Jones amidst his torrid 2025 campaign that's seen him slash .317/.413/.702 with 29 home runs over a combined 310 plate appearances between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Jones has been a hot topic in Yankees circles over the last few months, with some pundits believing that the organization will sell high on the 24-year-old while others think they'd only trade him if they were to land a player of Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes' caliber. Neither Alcantara nor Cabrera are quite at that level, but they'd immediately become one of New York's top rotation arms should the two sides complete a deal over the next few hours. Alcantara's numbers (6.36 ERA in 109 innings) are down in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, though he won the National League Cy Young Award in 2022 and is under contract at a reasonable $17.3 million for the 2026 campaign while holding a $21 million team option for 2027. Cabrera, a former top prospect in his own right, is currently having arguably the best season of his young career with a 3.35 ERA, 3.68 FIP and 96 strikeouts over 94 innings. The 27-year-old is under club control through 2028, meaning he'd represent a long-term solution for the Yankees should they acquire him. Jones would be a hefty price to pay in any scenario, and it's unknown if New York would be willing to move him for either of the Marlins' starters, but it's a situation that bears watching as the clock ticks down to the 6:00 p.m. EST deadline. Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more! Tigers Land Yankees Trade Target Yankees' Luis Gil Starting vs. Marlins Yankees Linked to Blockbuster Trade with Marlins Yankees Lose Elite Closer to Padres Yankees Could Make Big Move with Rookie Pitcher
Angels' head-shaking trade decision looks even worse now
The Los Angeles Angels decided to buy relievers as part of their MLB trade deadline strategy, hoping to get Mike Trout and the franchise back to the postseason for the first time since 2014. While a noble sentiment, it could well be a move that keeps the franchise from moving anywhere close to the postseason any time soon. On July 30, the Angels added to their bullpen, bringing over Andrew Chafin and Luis Garcia from the Washington Nationals. After winning three of their last four games before the trade, there was hope in Anaheim that the Angels could pull something together. That hope, however, seems much smaller on Thursday. With the Seattle Mariners adding two big bats in Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez, and the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers expected to improve their roster as well before the trade deadline comes to a close, the road to success in the AL West became bumpier than it even had been before for the Angels. How tough? As July 31 dawned, the Angels had a 3.2 percent chance to make the postseason per FanGraphs. Granted, plenty of fans showed up in Anaheim on Wednesday night dressed as angels, but it's going to take more than faith to get these Angels into meaningful October baseball. Of course, it's not just in the division where the Angels are going to have to battle to make the postseason. Entering Thursday, Los Angeles sat at 53-56 and four games back of the final wild-card position. With a tie for that third spot between the Mariners and Rangers and three other teams between them and the Angels in the standings, it's going to take a lot of winning (and some help) for Los Angeles to earn a postseason spot. One of those teams between the Angels and the third wild-card spot is the Cleveland Guardians, a franchise that decided to sell at the deadline rather than buy. While it may not be a popular decision in Cleveland, it's designed to help the franchise prepare to compete in the AL Central in the future. Is it impossible for the Angels to get into October? No. Is it improbable? Absolutely. With Los Angeles having potential trade pieces such as Taylor Ward, Tyler Anderson and Kenley Jansen (as well as others, depending on how deep they wanted to go), many thought the Angels would be sellers. If employed, that strategy might have helped Los Angeles build for the future, especially with several of those trade pieces being potential free agents at the end of the season. Time will tell if the Angels made the right move, but the odds of succeeding this season (and perhaps in the near future as well) do not look promising.
Phillies' blockbuster trade just upped the pressure on Dodgers
The Philadelphia Phillies struck a deal to land a big bullpen arm in Jhoan Duran on Wednesday night, not only boosting their own relief corps but also putting more pressure on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both the Dodgers and Phillies had been linked to Duran, a right-hander who posted 12 saves along with a 2.01 ERA so far this season. However, it was Philadelphia that struck the pre-trade-deadline deal, bringing the 27-year-old on board in exchange for a pair of the franchise's top 10 prospects. Now the next move belongs to Los Angeles. Both the Phillies and Dodgers are expected to be among the teams competing for the National League title in October, but Los Angeles is in desperate need to reinforce its bullpen before that happens. Dodger relievers Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol have all spent time on the injured list this year, and the Los Angeles bullpen has suffered with their absences. Entering Wednesday's action, Dodgers relievers had posted a minus-3.4 Wins Above Average (WAA), placing Los Angeles 25th among MLB's 30 teams in that category. Additionally, Dodgers starters have thrown just 493.1 innings this year. That's the lowest number in MLB and makes Los Angeles the only MLB team to have their starters not cross the 500-inning threshold. With L.A. starters not going deep into the game and current Dodger relievers struggling with health and performance when called upon, it's clear that Duran would have been a big piece for the Dodgers to add to their personnel puzzle. With Duran heading to Philadelphia and Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase off the trading block after being the subject of an MLB investigation, the number of true impact relievers is dwindling ahead of Thursday's 6 p.m. (Eastern) MLB trade deadline. Minnesota's Griffin Jax is still a possibility, as is David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, the clock is ticking on the Dodgers to make a move ... and it will likely be a costly one in terms of prospects. In the wake of the Phillies claiming arguably the biggest bullpen prize of the trade deadline, Los Angeles can't afford to wait.
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