Looking back at last year, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain finished the race at Phoenix behind Joey Logano, missing out on his first-ever Cup Series championship title. With an impressive run last time around, there were high hopes for him to fight for the title once again this season.
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However, following the elimination race at Charlotte Roval, Chastain was unable to make it to the round of eight, ending his title charge for this year. Sometime after the race, the ‘Melon Man’ spoke with the members of the media and made an honest admission regarding his elimination.
Ross Chastain elaborates on playoff elimination
While interacting with the press, Chastain brought back his incident from Talladega Superspeedway and mentioned, “I mean it all goes back to Talladega… I think that hesitation and trying to shoot that gap. I never wanted to not go for the gap but right now that hurts, because that crash is what did it right?”
He added, “We scored enough points in Texas, we scored enough here at the Roval. But you just can’t wreck stage one at Talladega, it’s just unacceptable. I made that lack of a choice and I shot the gap out of hesitation and now I got to live with that. I can’t wait to go to sleep and wake up in the morning prepping for the race.”
It was the dent at Talladega that cut his chances to get through to the next round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the game. You could be consistent for a few rounds and wreck out in the next, only to find yourself fighting to stay above the cutline.
Chastain blames himself for mistakes
On being asked about his emotions after the elimination, Chastain mentioned, “I’m kind of like fine. Actually, the cool-down lap was tough I knew it. The radio was quiet in the scenarios it’s not good. I know we did everything right except for my errors. I have nobody to blame but myself…”
“I will never forget the moment at Talladega where I just kinda hesitated with the gas and brake. I went full throttle but I touched the brake and I saw the gap. I knew it was more wide but… I had to push.” Chastain had wrecked out during the Talladega playoff race a week prior, after contacting Kyle Busch.
He added, “I’ll stand by that as long as my team does. I have 140 employees and Justin Marks and everybody at Trackhouse they have given me that leeway to make those mistakes. It hurts right now.”
It surely will sting the Trackhouse Racing driver. But despite what happened, his team will look forward to 2024 and come back as an improved driver next season.
