Can I use the same data lines from the usb to connect to two different chips on the same corresponding pins as long as they arent both sending data at the same time?

Bobamosfet gave someone similar advice in another thread in this forum not too long ago. He said it should be fine, to sum it up.

I have seen designs where people chain the UARTs together too, where the PC Tx goes to the first MCU, whos TX goes to the Next MCU, then the last MCU in the chain connects it's TX to the computers RX. You can then use your own addressing scheme in software to send data to a particular MCU.

Great thanks. I couldn,t see any reason it couldnt be done, I just wanted to double check cause Im still real new at this. Oh by the way I did get that L298n h bridge, but I got the kit. Put it together last night and it works great! thanks again for that too.