Ross Chastain stops fan who reached into his car and stole his hat after Coke 600 win

NASCAR's newest Coke 600 had his winning hat (briefly) stolen right off his head during post-race celebrations

Ross Chastain stunned with his last to first drive in a backup car at the Coca-Cola 600, making history as the first driver to win from 40th in NASCAR's longest race. While he had to battle William Byron for the win on track, he had face a different kind of battle after collecting the checkered flag.

Following his celebratory watermelon smash, which the eighth-generation racer does after every victory, Chastain climbed into his car and drove back to pit road. Once there, a fan in a blue hoodie reached in the car, appearing to congratulate him before snatching the hat from atop his head.

"Hey! Hey! Give me that hat back." Chastain can be heard saying via the in-car camera. "Give me that (expletive) hat back!" Apparently, the overzealous fan reached into the race car and grabbed the No. 1 Jockey hat from atop Chastain's head before trying to run off with it. He didn't make it far before security confronted him and the hat was pulled from his hands.

Chastain explains what happened

Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

"Yeah, that was unfortunate," said Chastain in the post-race press conference. "A guy was on pit road. He was super excited. He reached in, I high-fived him. I didn't know him. And he just like grabbed my head. I thought he was just saying, 'oh yeah good job buddy.' then he just pulled the hat and then he did this little dance and said 'I got your hat. I got your hat.' And I was like, no give it back,' and he ran away.

"I just shut the car off and I pointed and the NASCAR security and Tony Lunders [Trackhouse competition director] was there and the security group. I was, like, that's my winning hat. It rode in the car. Every week, every race car I ever drive, I take the hat with the hole in it so I can put it on the shifter. It rides on the transmission tunnel every race. And I put that on the shelf. It means a lot to me and I'm not gonna give that away."

Added Chastain: "I was a little brutal with the words I was saying but I wanted the hat back. He was running away, like he knew what he was doing, and he grabbed it off my head and I didn't like that."

Thankfully, he got his hat back, which he will pair with his newly acquired trophy for winning one of NASCAR's prestigious crown jewel events.