(Photo: Myk Crawford | The Podium Finish)
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Last week, Ross Chastain arguably had a car fast enough to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But he sped on pit road during a green flag pit cycle, forcing the 31-year-old to work from behind.
Late in the race, Chastain and crew chief Phil Surgen gambled with a two-tire call to gain back track position — and it worked. The No. 1 team salvaged a fourth-place finish, but it left Chastain, a four-time NASCAR Cup Series winner, wondering what could have been.
“I watched the race back post-Las Vegas and I’m like, it doesn’t look like a race-winning car. But in the car, I felt like it was a race-winning capable car to fight with the No. 5 (Kyle Larson) and the No. 45 (Tyler Reddick),” Chastain said in a press conference on Saturday. “That’s why my human emotion takes over and I can’t get out of my own way of saying anything, but I was just so sad that I took us out of a shot.
“If we would have been up there with the No. 45 … when I sped, I was five car lengths in front of the No. 45 on pit road. We were racing with him and I felt equal to him. I just wanted a shot to continue to make adjustments on my car up front. Continue to have four tires on it … the two-tire call was great and it was a great Band-Aid. When we look back, I might not even remember the speeding penalty. Most people won’t, but I know I will. But yeah, just the speed of the car and the feel … like it goes fast and it was driving so good that I could hustle it. That’s what makes it tough.”
A week before at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chastain sped again. When going from the 90 mph zone in Turns 3 and 4 to the frontstretch section at 45 mph, he locked up one of his front tires and slid through too fast. He then sped exiting pit road after stalling the car, forcing himself to claw his way back again.
Chastain successfully did so, finishing seventh. But with penalties off his own mistakes adding up, the Alva, Florida, native feels the frustration.
“When the intention is to go slow and I still speed, that’s where my frustration came from; in the car and in the moment,” Chastain explained. “Then there’s dejection after of just – OK, I know what my intention was … it was very clear. I know what my mind was trying to do, and then in the moment, I don’t execute on what I’m intending to do. So it’s one thing to push to the lights and know that they’re right on the limit; it just rolls a little faster and it’s .01 faster. It’s another thing to intentionally be slow and still get popped because I was lazy with the pedals.
“I took the flight home and thought about it … Monday morning, for sure. I watched the race back first thing Monday and walked away from it. And honestly, my team got me and my guys were just like – Look, we’re not slowing down … we don’t need you to be slow like you were at Vegas on the approach to pit road. We need you to go back to the Ross that wins the award.”
LAS VEGAS, NV – March 3, 2024 – Pennzoil 400 NASCAR Cup Series Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Myk Crawford | The Podium Finish)
Fortunately for Chastain, he’s headed to a place where he knows how to win. Ryan Blaney won his first Cup championship at Phoenix Raceway in the fall, but Ross Chastain ended up winning the race to end 2023 on a high note. Chastain became the first non-competing championship driver to win the finale in the playoff era.
Since driving competitive equipment, the Trackhouse Racing driver has had success in the desert. He finished second in the spring two years ago as he launched his breakout campaign before finishing third in the fall while competing for the title. Chastain also has a pair of Xfinity Series top 10s with Kaulig Racing in 2020.
Currently fifth in points, Chastain hopes to smash another melon in Phoenix and lock into the playoffs. He’ll start 12th on Sunday but will have to endure the challenges of the new short-track package.
“I feel like a lot of my memories are of the really good laps; the laps we were driving away from the field and when we were passing people,” Chastain said. “There were a lot of times where I saw a lot of erratic steering and heavy braking from my driving traces from last fall. So it wasn’t as good as I remembered. I had the whole offseason to think back through and dream about all the good that happened, but there were some bad. There were some moments where I wasn’t happy with the car last fall.
“We were way too tight coming here. We were sliding the front tires a lot. We made a lot of changes in practice and after, which has not been the norm for the No. 1 car. You see it … we’re normally pretty spot-on. We went to work. We made a lot of changes before we had to get into the tech line.”
Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
