This season for Ross Chastain has not gone to plan so far. The Trackhouse Racing star sits 27 points outside the playoff bubble with one regular season race remaining. At this point pretty much a must-win situation. This is a lot different from the last two years in both of which he made the playoffs. He even made it to the championship race in 2022. The last couple of years have been a motivator for the driver of the #1 car as he aims to get a whole lot better in the future.
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Trackhouse Racing is one of the most exciting motorsports organizations in the world right now. They race in NASCAR and Moto GP. Next season, the team will have a brand new car in the Cup Series with the Australian Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen behind the wheel. Things are looking positive for the team’s future right now but NASCAR is as unpredictable as it gets. Amidst all the chaos, Chastain wants the team to get better and not have its best years only at the start.
“Once you taste winning and success, I’m a competitor and I just want more. My goal is to and what I’m working towards is to make sure that these last two years were not the glory days, they were not the bright spot. I don’t believe that to be the case. So, yeah, we definitely have not had the speed that we want,” he had said in an interview a month ago.
It will be a tall order for the driver of the #1 car to make the playoffs this season. He doesn’t have a great record at the Darlington Raceway either. Chastain has only finished in the top 10 once in the last five Cup Series races there. His winning the race on Sunday would be nothing short of miraculous.
Chastain is not going to let his Trackhouse seat go
The team recently signed teenage sensation Connor Zilisch to a development driver contract. He will race in the Xfinity Series next season. His final destination will be the Cup Series and given his form, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to take the 18-year-old a long time. It’s like that saying, if they’re good enough, they’re old enough. However, Chastain isn’t going to give up his spot on the team for anything.
“I’ve told any driver under the Trackhouse umbrella, as they all look and are going through their careers to not look at the 1 car — it’s locked up for a long time,” he had said to the media. “Five years ago, I would have never thought a Cup team was in his future, and here we are contending for race wins and the playoffs with him and whatever’s next. I’m here for the ride.”
For now, the Watermelon Man only has one focus — Darlington. Winning the race might seem almost impossible for the #1 team but Chastain is known for pulling out some exhilarating moves to win races out of desperation in the past.
