When Rick Hendrick calls you out, you know you're in deep doo-doo

NASCAR's next social media superstar -- take that as good or bad -- Ross Chastain continued his saga this past Sunday at Darlington.

Chastain has been catching the eye of many outside the racing world because of his antics, including several on-track enemies he's made, as well as the famous "Hail Melon" run at Martinsville last year.

He has become such a topic of discussion that he even made an appearance on the Pat Mcafee Show last week.

There's an old adage in sports that even bad press is good press, if you understand the juxtaposition and irony. And that's kind of become the case with Chastain.

But when you draw the ire of and get under the skin of one of NASCAR's most legendary owners, namely Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick, perhaps Chastain's own team owner, Justin Marks, needs to sit him down and explain that as good of a race car driver he is -- usually -- his antics, if they continue, could cause him to drive himself right out of a ride.

You just don't want to mess with someone like "Mr. H."

One thing is for sure with Chastain. No matter how many wrecks or fights he may get into, including his punchity-punch dance with Noah Gragson in Kansas, it would seem that Chastain cannot stop his antics.

Even worse, he's been taking out other Chevrolet cars as well as half the field at this point, and the likes of Hendrick seemingly have had enough.

After Chastain and Kyke Larson had their third on-track run-in this year (or is it maybe more than three, we've kind of lost count) towards the end of the race, running first and second, Hendrick didn't mince words.

"He doesn't have to be that aggressive," Hendrick said of Chastain.

And that's something for Hendrick to say as he typically wants his drivers to be aggressive, but also race others clean, which Chastain definitely is having a problem doing.

"You don't run people in the fence," Hendrick added. "He's gonna make a lot of enemies."

We interject to respectfully disagree with Mr. Hendrick by saying alternatively that Chastain ALREADY has made a lot of enemies -- and the count seems to keep growing every weekend.

"It's hard to win a championship when you've got a lot of paybacks out there," Hendrick said.

And Mr. H couldn't be more correct. It's not like Hendrick denies that Chastain had racing talent at all. He said that Chastain "has so much talent ... if he could just calm down. He's got a lot of talent, he's just making a lot of enemies."

The biggest thing Hendrick said is that it's "getting old" with Chastain, his antics and the guys he keeps having run-ins with (like Larson), as well as other regular conflicts with the likes of Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin and, of course, the afore-mentioned incident at Kansas with Gragson after the race.

Although Chastain wasn't the aggressor in the post-race tete-a-tete with Gragson, nor was he the one who started throwing punches, he certainly had a reason why he received them (although to be precise, it was more like he was grabbing Gragson's firesuit to keep him at bay rather than to be a punching bag).

NASCAR has had its fair share of pit road fights over the years, but now Chastain has been involved -- and it's probably not for the last time -- the sanctioning body may have to do what Marks can't, namely, put Chastain in check.

It's not just team owners or drivers reacting on the track either. Teams may now have to preplan how to race Chastain, especially in the closing laps if a race is on the line and Chastain is in the middle of what may be another disconcerting incident.

As a result, this can change the way an opposing driver -- and to a certain extent, an opposing crew chief and spotter  -- attacks a race knowing that they might run into Chastain at the end.

In fact, Sunday's race winner, William Byron, had this to say about racing with Chastain: "We (he and his spotter) talked about it under caution. I was kind of hoping they (Chastain) would get choked up (hemmed up)."

Chastain has run into his fair share of incidents with fellow Chevrolet drivers, which can pose yet another significant issue, considering it's the manufacturer he also drives for.

Chastain taking out these other Chevy cars is putting a dent into the wallets of Chevy-backed teams, both in terms of money and points. If he continues to fall into incidents with other Chevy drivers, especially in the upcoming playoffs, could Chevrolet threaten to drop Chastain -- if not outright force Marks to simply fire him? You don't want to mess with the folks who wear the bow tie, that's for sure!

Let's not make this a total bashing of Chastain. Hendrick said it very clearly, Chastain has a great deal of talent. And he's also paid his dues getting to where he's at now ... in addition to paying interest on those dues.

But now that he's enjoyed success and has become a name involved in a lot of conversations, plus the inspiring saga of being the "Watermelon Man," is he jeopardizing everything he's worked for to get to this point? Hasn't he ever heard the old saying, "You've got to get along to go along"?

It doesn't have to be all-negative for Chastain. Of course, his driving style has led to several wins and a Championship 4 appearance just last year. Even with the number of enemies he has made, Denny Hamlin has proven that Chastain isn't all bad or has become one of the most despised drivers in the sport.

Many will remember the multiple coming-togethers between Hamlin and Chastain last year, but this year has been a different story for the two (although there's still plenty of time for that to revert back to what happened last year).

Hamlin said on his podcast that Chastain has "grown on me. He knew I was faster in Kansas and didn't fight that. I know I will remember that the next time he is faster than me."

That statement is unquestionably huge by Hamlin. It proves that a driver's emotions towards other drivers can change positively.

I'm not sure fans are hoping for Chastain to change his ways, but if he does, he should be able to get back on good terms with the rest of the field.

This season continues to put new storylines towards the Melon Man, like who will Chastain run into next? Who's his next fight with? When will it happen again?

These are all inevitable questions and will more than likely happen again. That, to many drivers, is the problem with Ross.

If he's trying to be the late Dale Earnhardt, it's pretty clear Ross is not NASCAR's newest Intimidator. Not even close. But if he doesn't start taking advice from or heeding the criticism from those he's had run-ins with, and in particular after drawing Rick Hendrick's ire, it's a good thing Ross has his in-week job as a watermelon farmer to fall back on, just in case he eventually will need to go back to it.