Ross Chastain finds himself in a precarious position heading into the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Michigan International Speedway. He is just behind the cutline and needs a good day in the points or a race win. The problem is that he is not too sure about what it’s going to be like at the track.
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The Cup drivers race there only once a year and this will be his seventh start at the venue. In these starts, he has only finished in the top 10 once so it’s safe to say that things are not going to be easy for the #1 driver.
Speaking about how he intends to run the race on Sunday, the Trackhouse Racing star said that it would be ideal to use up his tires and fuel by the end of the race. He intends to push his car to the limit right until the finish line. It’s a risky strategy considering that if anything goes wrong, there would be little chance of the #1 making a recovery. If your tires die out before intended at Michigan, it is impossible to catch and pass drivers at the front.
“The cooler the temperatures, the more on-throttle time we will have and high speeds. We basically want to end the race almost out of fuel and tires about as old as you can stand and still compete for the win. When you lose grip at Michigan there’s no catching it. There’s no sliding – it’s either all grip and going fast or sliding somewhere you don’t want to be,” he explained.
Chastain won the final race of the season in 2023 but 2024 has not gone to plan so far. His teammate Daniel Suarez has already won a race this season and has confirmed his spot in the playoffs. It has been a completely different story for the driver of the #1 car who has struggled to even challenge for race wins. He is behind Bubba Wallace in the playoff bubble who has achieved consecutive top-five finishes.
Third-time lucky for Chastain at Michigan in the Next-Gen?
However, he has been working hard to get things right in the Michigan race. Chastain has been on the simulator trying to figure out a track he never really has run well on. NASCAR’s limited visits to the venue do not help his cause either. The stats are also against him as Chevrolet cars has not won a race at the track for several years now. But you can never take anything for granted in this sport.
“I’ve been there virtually this week with the simulator and we see a lot of speed. This is our third trip there with this car and last year we led some laps there early and were in the mix so we hope that we take more steps forward. We’ve had two at-bats at Michigan with this version of the car and we hope to continue to make our cars faster,” he said.
A win will put him straight into the playoffs but even a good points day can put him in a strong position to qualify. The aim will be to run as high as possible and hopefully get a stage win under his belt.
