Ross Chastain on the on the front-straigthaway at Texas Motor Speedway during the Würth 400. (Photo: Rachel Schuoler | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, Texas — After an eventful Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, Ross Chastain scored his best result of the 2025 season, scoring a second-place finish.
Chastain faced a challenging race after securing a disappointing qualifying position in 31st place on Saturday. However, as the race progressed and the number of cars on the track diminished, Chastain found himself in a strong position to potentially seize the win in the final laps.
“It’s a working-class day,” said Chastain following the race. “That’s enough reason to go to Tootsies next time I’m in Nashville. I want to head straight there.”
The final caution of the race came out with just three laps to go, after Michael McDowell slammed the hard wall exiting Turn 2 while running in the third position. Chastain restarted in the third position on the bottom lane behind race leader Joey Logano, whom he followed to eventually get around Ryan Blaney, who was on the top but wasn’t able to run down Logano.
Ross Chastain battling for position headed into Turn 1 at Texas Motor Speedway during the Würth 400 en route to a second-place finish. (Photo: Rachel Schuoler | The Podium Finish)
“Working-class days” are becoming a common occurrence for Chastain and his No. 1 team this season, as qualifying has been a struggle for all of Trackhouse Racing through the first 11 races. Chastain has an average starting position of 23.5, which is by far his worst since joining the team back in 2022, but has an average finish of 13.5, which is on par with his career-high set that same season.
“Just no confidence in the car yesterday,” he said. “The speed of the Trackhouse (Racing) cars is just terrible and we’re not confident, all three drivers.”
During his interview on pit road, Chastain credited the recovery and good result from a certain pit stop during the race, where his No. 1 team adjusted his car to regain his confidence in driving to the front.
“There was one pit stop today that Phil Surgen (Crew Chief) and the group,” Chastain said. “It takes a ton of people back at Trackhouse, on the box here, GM and Chevrolet. They made me a confident driver all of a sudden with one adjustment, and it was small stuff. It doesn’t even make sense, but after that, I was a confident driver.”
Ross Chastain (No. 1) lined up in the bottom lane behind Michael McDowell (No. 71) and Joey Logano (No. 22) and ahead of Erik Jones (No. 43) on one of the final restarts during the Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Rachel Schuoler | The Podium Finish)
The second-place finish is the sixth top 10 and second top five of the season for Chastain, who now sits in 11th place in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings. He also now sits 41 points over the provisional playoff cut-off line, with the final spot currently being held by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Next up on the schedule is the Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway, which is the home of Chastain’s last NASCAR Cup Series win in September of 2024. This, mixed with the confidence gained from the runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway, should carry a lot of momentum for the No. 1 team into next weekend.
“I can’t drive an uncomfortable car,” he said. “I can’t personally. So, as soon as they got it comfortable or at least gave me some confidence, we started going forward.”
