To say it’s been a mixed year for Trackhouse Racing is an understatement. On the good side is Shane van Gisbergen’s four road course wins and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup playoffs—although he was eliminated after the first round.
Advertisement
Ross Chastain won one race and made the playoffs, but comes into Sunday’s race on the Charlotte Roval in jeopardy of being eliminated from advancing to the Round of Eight semifinals, which begin next week in Las Vegas.
Chastain is 13 points below the cutoff line to advance to the next round. He needs to finish higher—and earn enough points—to overcome the last few drivers above the cutoff line: William Byron (+40 above the cutoff line), Chase Briscoe (+21), and, particularly, defending and three-time Cup champion Joey Logano (+13).
Chastain also needs to finish higher than the three other drivers behind him below the cutline: Bubba Wallace (-26), Tyler Reddick (-29), and Austin Cindric (-48), all of whom are pretty much in a must-win situation come Sunday.
And then there’s the final Trackhouse driver—well, for the remaining five races, that is—Daniel Suarez. The native of Mexico will be leaving the team after this season, after enduring one of the worst seasons of his Cup career.
After qualifying for the Cup playoffs in two of the last three seasons with race wins, Suarez is hoping to finish strong in his final five races, but given that he’s in 29th place, the odds do not favor him.
Suarez is in the midst of the second-worst season of his Cup career. He has not won a race in 2025, has just two top-five and six top-ten finishes, and has led just 33 laps to date. Where Suarez will race next season remains to be seen. He recently promised that he’d be making an announcement, but so far, Suarez has been mute.
With most Cup rides already spoken for next season, it would not be a surprise to see Suarez drop down to the Xfinity (soon to be O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series, or perhaps even the Craftsman Truck Series.
What does Chastain have to do on Sunday to advance to the Round of Eight?
NASCAR TV analyst Steve Letarte said on this week’s edition of NASCAR After The Race that he’s worried about Chastain’s chances at Charlotte this Sunday. “For the [No. 1] of Ross Chastain, I’ll be honest, I think the lack of high-speed teammates hurts,” Letarte said. “I think SVG, when you go to the road course, he is the bar. He had a great run going [at Kansas before finishing 10th]. So I think he’s improving.”
But Letarte admits that Suarez’s lack of success—mainly due to lack of speed—has also weighed down Chastain to an extent. “When you get lost and you can’t see the forest through the trees, you need something to lean on,” Letarte said. “And I’m just not sure that Ross Chastain has that [in terms of support from Suarez]. I think he’s kind of the one guy fighting against a lot of multi-car organizations.”
While Chastain would assure advancement to the Round of Eight semifinals with a win Sunday at Charlotte, the odds of that are unlikely, given his track record on the Roval: in six previous starts there, five of those results have been 22nd or worse, with just one tenth-place finish (2023).
While SVG will likely be contending for the win Sunday, given his road course superiority, that’s not really going to help Chastain’s movement forward. Likewise, Suarez won’t be much of a help, either.
If he’s going to do anything, Chastain has to do it on his own
That’s why Chastain’s playoff future is solely in his hands come Sunday. “If I’m the No. 1 team, I am making Joey Logano outrun us,” Letarte said. “Make Joey Logano protect those 13 points. It starts in qualifying. If I’m the No. 1 and I outqualify Joey Logano, I could take 13 points to (just) seven or eight or nine. Right after stage one, I am making sure that Joey Logano feels the pressure of advancement. Make him advance, right? Don’t give it to him.
“Because if you’re Ross Chastain and you think it’s a must-win and you drive off track or you try too hard, then you let Joey Logano coast. The last thing we want is prevent defense. Let’s not let up. Don’t try so hard that you force yourself into a mistake.
“Ross is very confident in his identity. He’s very confident in the speed of his race cars, even when they’re not there. He knows what he has. He doesn’t try to make more than what it is. He gets every ounce of it. He will squeeze that watermelon until there’s not a seed left in it. And that’s what he just has to do with the No. 1 car. Don’t go off track, don’t get caught up in somebody else’s mess. Blue collar, grind your way. And if it’s not enough, it’s not enough.”
There’s a new face coming on the horizon for Trackhouse
While Chastain and van Gisbergen will both return to Trackhouse next season, they’ll be joined by Connor Zilisch, who will replace Suarez in the No. 99. Randall Burnett announced this week that he will be leaving as Kyle Busch’s crew chief at Richard Childress Racing to assume the same role with Zilisch at Trackhouse.
Zilisch has the potential to be a superstar in the Cup Series. The Mooresville, North Carolina native has utterly dominated the Xfinity Series this season, leading the points almost the entire campaign. He has an incredible nine wins, 17 top fives, and 19 top 10 finishes in the first 26 (of 33) races.
