Ross Chastain headlines drivers unveiled for NASCAR Rivals cover

Through the last week or so, the social accounts for the upcoming NASCAR Rivals game for the Nintendo Switch have been teasing drivers that will appear on this year’s cover. Driver silhouettes were shared on social media for fans to guess who the cover stars would be before the reveal on Tuesday (23rd August).

TrackHouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Chevy, will be front and center on NASCAR’s officially licensed game this year. The ‘Melon Man’ is one of NASCAR’s newest standout stars this season, a two-time winner in 2022 at Circuit of the Americas and Talladega Superspeedway.

To the left, two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch, currently driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 18 Toyota, stands next to Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports driver of the No. 48. A well-known rival to Busch, Joey Logano, the driver of the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske, and Busch’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, driver of the No. 11 Toyota, Denny Hamlin, stand on the right side of the cover.

THE DRIVERS AND THEIR RIVALRIES

Ross Chastain seems to be everyone’s thorn in their side this season, racing aggressively and rubbing people the wrong way as he contends for his first NASCAR Cup Series title in 2022. That’s kind of been his M.O. during his entire career, but being in a top ride this season has him roughing up some of the most popular drivers this season, none more apparent than Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin’s had his share of run-ins over the last few years as well. This season alone, however, Hamlin and Chastain have gotten into each other more often than the other existing rivalries except possibly the most recent renewed rivalry which brought itself back to the forefront this past weekend at Watkins Glen between Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

Larson’s No. 5 Chevy is in the announcement trailer rooted against Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell in the No. 20. Neither driver, as well as Elliott, made it on to the cover though. Five polarizing drivers are quite the crowd. A Hendrick driver in Bowman did make it onto the cover, however, and his most infamous incident came in a win at Martinsville last season after getting into it with Hamlin.

Logano as well has been involved in quite a number of spats in his career, versus drivers like Hamlin, Busch and Elliott. More famously, he’s been involved in altercations with a pair of Hall of Fame NASCAR Champions, both Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth (technically, Kenseth will be a Hall of Fame inductee in 2023).

Of course, there’s Kyle Busch, probably the most polarizing driver in the entire sport. Either you love him or you hate him, and if your favorite driver has ever had a run in with him, he’s likely public enemy number one. One of the most winningest drivers of all-time, Busch always races to win, and doesn’t settle for anything less. You can likely see why that’s led to so many rivalries in his career.

NASCAR Rivals release date

NASCAR Rivals will release exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on 14th October 2022. It retails for $49.99 and will be sold both physically and digitally. Pre-orders begin tomorrow, Wednesday 24th August. We’re also expecting some of the first gameplay footage to drop as well.

If you don’t already know, these NASCAR rivalries run deep. Honestly, I think these five drivers are a perfect fit for the rivals theme. If you haven’t yet, check out the NASCAR Rivals announcement trailer above. We’ve also got all of the details about the upcoming game that we know so far posted a couple of days ago. What do you think about the drivers chosen for the cover? Let us know in the comments!

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