Adding a third car to a two-car operation is a significant step up for any NASCAR team. Trackhouse Racing made that upgrade this season by bringing Shane van Gisbergen into the Cup Series. Unfortunately, not every team can do this right, and it appears Trackhouse might have inadvertently affected the performances of its star driver, Ross Chastain.
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Chastain has finished in the top-5 just once in the first nine races of 2025. It goes without saying that a lot more was expected from a driver who ran in the 2022 Championship 4. Veteran driver Kyle Petty delivered two possible reasons for this underwhelming course.
First, the No.1 team doesn’t have enough speed in its car. Second, the addition of a third car might have taken away from Chastain’s possibility of entering Victory Lane.
He said, “Three cars are the kiss of death. You can run two cars, and you can run four cars. When you get that third, that third car just takes away, and by adding Shane, I think it takes a little bit away.”
In 2022, Chastain had four top-5 finishes (including a win), and in 2023, he had three after nine races. But it is worth mentioning that he had just one top-5 finish last year at this point.
So, an argument can be made that it can’t just be Shane van Gisbergen who has caused the seeming downfall of an elite racer.
Chastain has never been the same since
In 2023, Chastain was keeping his reputation as an aggressive driver up proudly. He was making it a habit to wreck contenders and seemed extremely content with doing so. But things boiled over to a high point after he caused Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson to wreck for the third time that year in Darlington.
Rick Hendrick gave a scathing press meet criticizing Chastain’s on-track demeanor and later called him on his phone. Word is that this call changed Chastain and his character completely.
He said about it, “I saw it and thought… The air couldn’t move. No air went in or out… He talked for about seven or eight minutes, and it was great.”
“Some things he was disappointed in, and other things… he was proud of me… It was hard to breathe, honestly.” He hasn’t been trying to deliberately anger his fellow drivers since then.
Rick Hendrick might have steered Chastain onto a more disciplined path in his career. However, he might also have caused the driver’s results to taper off.
