“That’s the Problem”: Ross Chastain Makes Worrying Admission About Team’s Struggle to Qualify Well in 2025

Neha Dwivedi | 09/05/2025
Driver Ross Chastain (19) on pit road during the Great Clips 200 at Darlington Raceway.

The Trackhouse Racing team undoubtedly has been working hard to climb the leaderboard in every outing. While Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez have managed to break through and taste some success, Shane van Gisbergen is yet to settle into a rhythm alongside the frontrunners in his rookie season.

What raises eyebrows is the fact that the team’s best qualifying performance this season came during the only road course race so far at COTA, with Suarez rolling off from P5 and SVG from P6. Other than that, all three drivers have been left playing catch-up from the rear of the grid at ovals.

When asked about the team’s ongoing qualifying issues, Ross Chastain didn’t mince words. He admitted that even the team remains in the dark about the root cause and is throwing everything in hopes of finding a breakthrough.

As he put it, “We don’t have answers. We have a lot of questions. That’s the problem as well. It’s all that we have. We’re trying, I believe it. I surely believe that we will get back to our qualifying, put it on pole, put top-10. Right now, we’re just trying to get 20. We need to start midpack.”

“Yeah, I don’t know the answer. I don’t know what to fix it, but we’re having those conversations. We are trying, we’re changing things. We’re a competitive group and we’re not happy with Saturday,” he continued.

 

Chastain has chalked up two top-fives and another four top-10s so far, showing he can hold his own when it counts. But with only two starts inside the top-10, qualifying has been his Achilles’ heel. His average finish of 13.55 keeps him within striking distance of the top-10 in the regular season standings, but starting on average from 23.5 means he’s often fighting an uphill battle.

Suarez, too, has had his work cut out for him. In the first 11 races, he has managed just one top-10 start. Despite that, he’s walked away with one top-five and another pair of top-10s, landing him at P25 in the driver standings with an average finish of 19.7.

As for SVG, he seems to be biding his time for another road course event — his comfort zone — while he gets around the intricacies of oval racing in the Next Gen setup. With only one top-10 finish to his name, van Gisbergen currently sits P35 in the points standings, holding an average finish of 27.45.

Post Edited By: Abhishek Ramesh
Daniel Suarez Ross Chastain Shane Van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing

About the author

Neha Dwivedi

Neha Dwivedi is an experienced NASCAR Journalist at The SportsRush, having penned over 5500 articles on the sport to date. She was a seasoned writer long before she got into the world of NASCAR. Although she loves to see Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch win the races, she equally supports the emerging talents in the CARS Late Model and ARCA Menards Series.. For her work in NASCAR she has earned accolades from journalists like Susan Wade of The Athletic, as well as NASCAR drivers including Thad Moffit and Corey Lajoie. Her favorite moment from NASCAR was witnessing Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. win the championship trophies. Outside the racetrack world, Neha immerses herself in the literary world, exploring both fiction and non-fiction.

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