Cash Jordan took it on the chin at Nashville Superspeedway.
Literally.
And the 10-year-old from Eagleville never saw it coming.
Jordan was in the stands with family in Turn 1 that day to watch the Cracker Barrel 400 on May 31 when, 70-some laps into the race, a piece of Ross Chastain‘s brake rotor cracked him upside the head.
In the chin, to be exact.
“I did not see anything,” Cash told The Tennessean. “I remember feeling like I got punched.”
“I said, ‘If somebody punches you like that, run. You’re not going to win that fight,’ ” said Cash’s grandfather, Dennis Jordan, who brought the family to the race.
The blow from the rotor, which can reach temperatures as high as 1,800 degrees, left his chin bloodied and slightly burned.
But it wasn’t enough to send him home. Instead, medics on site sewed him back up under the grandstands and he was back in the stands in time to finish watching the race. He said the numbing shot he received hurt worse than being hit by the brake rotor.
“I wanted to go home at the beginning,” Cash said. “Then when I got stitches I wanted to watch the rest (of the race).”
Those stitches lasted just five days before they were removed.
But this Cash story, in many ways, symbolic.
Family matters
That a broken piece of Chastain’s brake rotor introduced itself to Cash Jordan’s chin, out of 38,000 chins in the stands that day, may have been fate’s way of saying something.
Cash Jordan’s grandfather is his father.
Cash Jordan’s grandmother is his mother.
Legally.
After Cash’s mother, Shelby Jordan, died of a fentanyl overdose at age 26 on Aug. 14, 2019, her parents, Dennis and Rachel, legally adopted him.
Shelby, who was just 26 when she died, was named after the Shelby Mustang.
Dennis, a longtime NASCAR fan, started The Shelby Jordan Foundation with the idea of raising awareness about addiction, especially in children. As part of that foundation, Dennis regularly speaks publicly to help with that awareness. He also puts on an annual car show, the “Showin’ Off For Shelby Car Show,” which helps raise money which is donated to nonprofits, local schools and other organizations that helped with Shelby’s fight.
“I go around speaking to rehab houses and drug addiction houses about the choices they’re making and what it can cost them, what the kids are left behind with,” Dennis said.
‘Cash’s choice’
Cash’s role in the the most recent car show honoring his mother involved, no joke, a brake rotor.
As part of the car show, Cash picks his favorite ride every year. In the most recent race the winner received a trophy that Cash hand builds every year, the base of which was a brake rotor. The trophy, built to look like a person, also included lifters and valves and a pulley.
The award is called “Cash’s Choice.”
“I have a buddy who teaches him how to weld,” Dennis said.
“This year it took one day to build,” Cash said.
As for the brake rotor from Ross Chastain’s car?
A family member retrieved it, after it cooled down. Cash has it as the family’s house.
Dennis said Chastain’s team has reached out and is in the process of sending a care package.
Cash, who met Chastain and got his autograph two days before the race at an event in Murfreesboro, hopes to meet the driver of the No. 1 car again next year. In the infield.
Though his favorite drivers is Chase Elliott, Cash said Chastain is near the top of his list.
“It was just kind of funny how we (met him on Friday), and Sunday night that happened,” Dennis said. ” ‘Like, Ross, we just met you.’
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ross Chastain’s brake rotor hit NASCAR fan at Nashville. Here’s his story
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