Ross Chastain was having a decent run in the 2024 Cup Series season until the trip to Nashville. Though his No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro did not have the speed in it to win races, he managed to put together a string of consistent finishes in the top 20. This helped him stay in contention to qualify for the playoffs on points. But the mayhem that the last three weekends have caused has put this in jeopardy.
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The Trackhouse Racing driver currently sits just 53 points above the elimination line after two DNFs in the last three races. Chicago was a dull exception with a 22nd-place finish. This dip has raised the alarms at the team’s garage and retired driver Kevin Harvick has provided them his two cents on how to approach the five regular season races that remain.
He said on the Harvick Happy Hour, “When you don’t have the speed you can’t have those bad finishes to go along with a lack of speed. I just think they’re in that position right now where they don’t have the speed that they need to win races.” Harvick’s solution for this corner is to take risky chances at unpredictable tracks like Daytona and go hard for the win.
This approach could very well end up with Chastain wrecking again and losing the tiny points advantage that he has, but Harvick believes that the risk is worth the reward. He continued, “That’s a tough one to balance because you got to go for the win but you could cost yourself a ton of points by taking too many risks. But Ross almost won the Daytona 500 and I think that they have to go there and try to win.”
Will Ross Chastain end up following Harvick’s advice?
In contrast to Harvick’s thoughts, the No. 1 team is not open to taking wild risks yet. Crew Chief Phil Surgen told NASCAR, “As we close in at the end of the regular season, depending on where we are relative to those cars we’re racing, that’ll probably change the amount of risk we take for a win. But it’ll be really situational. We’re not gonna go out and just throw Hail Marys next week just because.”
The urgency might not be there right now but it will come should this bad string extend. As things stand, Chastain is poised to grab the final playoff spot. Bubba Wallace narrowed the gap between himself and the elimination line through a top-10 finish at Pocono and is breathing right down his neck (-27).
A late regular-season charge from him or a new winner from below the cutline would all but end Chastain’s hopes of making it to the playoffs.
