Ross Chastain’s superb weekend was rewarded with third-place run at Las Vegas (Photo: Jordan Anders | TPF).
On a weekend where many of the top NASCAR Cup Series drivers had issues, Ross Chastain had a trouble-free time at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing third in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400.
Las Vegas has been an important track for the Floridian as it was the track where he broke through with an Xfinity Series win with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2018. Fast forward to 2022, Trackhouse Racing, who acquired Ganassi’s NASCAR program after last year, is the team Chastain represents and did so proudly.
After having a miserable start to the year with two straight crashes that took him out from promising runs, Chastain came out to play.
The No. 1 ACM Awards Chevrolet was clean throughout the race-extended 274-lap event, highlighted with a stage 2 victory while leading a race-high 83 laps. Not only did it mark the team’s first stage win, but also Chastain’s first in the Cup Series.
Chastain already making a mark with his new Cup team (Photo: Luis Torres | TPF).
However, a shot at the win began to fade in the final stage as the closing laps boiled down to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. Not giving up without a fight, Chastain wasn’t far behind, but struggled staying on par with them.
However, Chastain would get another shot at a potential maiden win following a crash by Erik Jones and later Bubba Wallace, who tried to avoid him.
This setup an overtime finish, but also one last pit stop for a different set of tires. That’s when Hendrick Motorsports took control of the race as Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron pitted for two tires. Busch beat Chastain among those who took four tires with the latter choosing the inside lane of Row 3 for the final restart.
As Larson and Bowman duked it out for the race win, Chastain was able to pass Busch coming towards the checkered flag to finish third for his fourth career top-five finish. Additionally, Chastain scored more points than any competitor with 52 thanks to finishing third in Stage 1 and the aforementioned Stage 2 triumph.
The stout effort marked Trackhouse Racing’s second straight top-five finishes with Sunday’s result being their best to date in just their second season of existence. Even when Chastain’s teammate Daniel Suarez crashing out, the overall spirited group was evident, according co-owner Justin Marks’ tweet.
Incredibly proud of the 1 group. Gutted for the 99 group.
Best moment of the day for me:
The entire 99 pit crew in the 1 pit box with 25 laps to go supporting their brothers.
This is @TeamTrackhouse
— Justin Marks (@JustinMarksTH) March 7, 2022
Prior to the green flag, Chastain entered the race 35th in points out of the 36 drivers eligible for Cup points. Now he’ll enter the final leg of the “West Coast Swing” 20th in points, a staggering 15-spot improvement and seven points behind 16th place Kevin Harvick.
Coverage of the Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway begins Sunday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. In seven previous starts, Chastain has yet to finish in the top-10 with last November being his best finish to date when he finished 14th in his final race with Ganassi.
