Only six spots are open in the playoff picture for 2024 and several drivers have yet to book their place in the last 16. One of them is Ross Chastain. The Watermelon Man currently sits 93 points above the cutline but is far from safe. New race winners could be cause for concern unless he is one of them. Thankfully, NASCAR is racing at one of his stronger tracks this weekend.
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The Nashville Superspeedway is special for Chastain. Last season, he picked up his third career Cup Series victory here, starting from pole position and leading most of the laps. It was one of his most dominant performances, holding off the veteran Martin Truex Jr. on his way to victory lane. This season, unfortunately, has not seen any such performances from the #1 driver so far.
Went for a quick spin and battled our way back to keep the @kubota_usa top-10 streak alive! Proud of the @TeamTrackhouse crew for stepping on the gas and staying in it at the end. Excited for our big weekend in Nashville coming up! 💪 pic.twitter.com/P7gheXJn0G
— Ross Chastain (@RossChastain) June 24, 2024
“I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed. Just trying to put together weekends like we did at those two. Now, we’ve had shots at other ones, for instance, this year at Las Vegas comes to mind,” he said when asked if he was surprised at not winning a race so far this year as per Speedway Digest.
Despite a long winless run, there’s good reason to back Ross Chastain for Sunday’s race. His statistics at the Nashville Superspeedway are top draw.
Ross Chastain’s exemplary stats at Nashville
The Trackhouse Racing star has never finished outside the top five at Nashville in three Cup Series outings so far. Apart from the dominant drive to victory last season, he finished P5 and P2 in the years prior. The win last season was even described by the #1 driver as one of the highest points of his racing career so far.
“Last year at Nashville was a career highlight for me for sure. It was one of those weekends that you dream about. We went out and performed really well,” he said as per Racing America.
Will Ross Chastain be able to repeat the feat this season and confirm his place in the round of 16? That is a question we’ll get the answer to after the conclusion of the remaining races ahead of the playoffs.
