Ross Chastain, aka the Watermelon Man, shot to fame after his ‘video game’ move from last year at Martinsville. Ever since then, there has been hype around the Melon Man. Belonging to a watermelon farming family, Chastain was on a roll last year, even coming close to clenching his first-ever championship.
Advertisement
However, with the start of the season this year, we still haven’t seen that level of Chastain, who hasn’t won any race in the season. The only thing he has been relevant for this season has been his ability to run around wrecking everybody at almost every other race.
Recently, while speaking to Kenny Wallace and John Roberts ahead of the Enjoy Illinois 300 last weekend, the Trackhouse Racing driver gave a candid verdict on why he has not been able to pick up wins this year.
Ross Chastain labels himself as a “professional loser” as he struggles to win in NASCAR
The interview started with Wallace blowing up a watermelon with a hammer and then inviting the ‘Melon Man’ on stage. Thereafter, Chastain was asked about how difficult it was to win a race in the Cup Series.
Chastain said, “This is the Cup Series, it is the hardest series in racing that I have been in the world. More talented drivers, more talented teams. Just the depth for the crews is so deep. Somebody brought it up to me few weeks ago about being a year since we won. I was like I’m a professional loser. I have lost my whole career, it’s only recently that we were able to win.”
It is true, that Chastain’s winning saga and the hype surrounding him only grew tenfold after the whole wall riding manoeuver at the Martinsville Speedway. In fact, throughout his years in the Cup Series, he has only won two races in total, both of them coming in the 2022 season. His first win was at the Circuit of the Americas, while the second came at the Talladega Superspeedway.
How has Chastain’s 2023 season looked so far?
With 15 races finished, Chastain has not won a single one yet. In fact, his last win came more than a year ago. Unsurprisingly, he was mired in controversy earlier, after he was the key reason for several wrecks on the racetrack. There was a point when even the Hendrick Motorsports boss had spoken about Chastain’s on-track antics and how it could backfire against him if he ever tries to fight for a championship.
Fortunately, Chastain had announced that he would change his ways and evolve as a driver. Aside from the controversy, so far Chastain has gathered a total of 466 points. He has had five top 5s and six top 10 finishes so far and is currently sitting in the 5th place in the driver’s standings for the regular season, behind Martin Truex Jr and ahead of Christopher Bell.
Given his performance so far, it’s fair to say that he’s managing well this season. However, clinching that elusive win could undoubtedly solidify his place in the playoffs. With a little luck, and provided he steers clear of on-track controversies, that victory might well be within his grasp.
