NASCAR
Non-Playoff Driver Ross Chastain Smashes the Melon in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In peak Trackhouse fashion going against the grain, Ross Chastain saved his best performance for the Playoffs as an outsider. The No. 1 Chevrolet was a top contender for most of the final stage at Kansas, beating all 12 Playoff drivers to the checkered flag. Kansas marks Cup Series win number five for the lovable watermelon farmer, and his second-straight Playoff upset.
Stage 1 was a tale of two extremes for Hendrick Motorsports. Kyle Larson made wall contact after blowing a tire while running 10th, setting the prerace favorite back. The closing laps saw William Byron chase down leader Christopher Bell, and force the No. 20 into the wall as well. The 24 took the opening stage win, his first since Charlotte in May.
Another Hendrick car in Alex Bowman won Stage 2. Despite setting a career-high in Kansas laps led, Bell made late wall contact yet again chasing down the 48.
Stage 3 saw Ross Chastain soon assume the lead. The Trackhouse Racing driver remained a top-five constant for the rest of the day, having a front row seat for Kyle Busch spinning from the lead inside of the final 40 laps.
The final restart of the day saw Martin Truex Jr in control, with Chastain to his inside. Alex Bowman taking the leaders three-wide gave Chastain command once again and the 1 drove off.
Even with a hard charging William Byron closing in, Ross Chastain was not to be denied in Kansas and earned another Playoff-upsetting win.
“What the big deal? We won,” Chastain said. “No it’s a huge deal for us on this 1 team. It’s what Cup racing is all about. It’s what Justin Marks bought into NASCAR with alongside Pitbull, to do stuff like this, to disrupt.”
“There’s been times this year where we couldn’t have disrupted the minnow pond outside Darlington, let alone a Cup race. It’s hard, it’s really tough. To come and do this today, there were times where I didn’t think after practice and qualifying we had what it took. I thought we’d been way stronger here in the past. It didn’t feel great all day, but our Kubota Chevy was better as the rubber went down. The adjustments were great.”
“I’ve got quite the bill piling up at Kubota, so this is definitely going to help paying that off. I have some M-6s heading down to the farm. I’ve also been on Jim Campbell and everybody at GM for wanting one of the Silverado EVs, so I think I get front of the line now on that.”
“I remember that process I talked about at Nashville last year. We haven’t left. We haven’t went away. Nobody has slowed us down other than ourselves, and today we were the fastest car.”
Behind Chastain and Byron, Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs were the top-five. Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Zane Smith rounded out the top-10.
With no Playoff contender winning Kansas, nobody is safe heading into the ultimate wildcard race at Talladega. Take a look at the current Playoff grid below.
The Round of 12 rolls on from Talladega Superspeedway, with the YellaWood 500. The Alabama green flag flies Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. One of the 12 contenders winning at ‘Dega will have an extra week of care-free rest and relaxation before the Round of 8.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
