When the rooster crowed for the first time in 2024, watermelon farmer-turned-NASCAR driver Ross Chastain entered the year as the Cup Series’ most recent winner, having become the first non-Championship Four driver to win the season finale.
It was the second win of an up-and-down 2023 campaign where the top Trackhouse driver overcame broad concerns centering on his aggressive nature early in the season to make a Playoff push that ultimately fell short in the Round of 12, failing to make a return trip to the championship race.
Chastain made an appearance in the main event for the LA Clash where he brought the #1 car back in one piece, finishing the night in 15th of 23 entries. He followed this up with an equally pedestrian performance in the first Bluegreen Duel race where he came home 11th, granting the #1 team the 21st spot for Sunday.
After snagging points in the first stage, Chastain’s sixth attempt at the Great American Race appeared to be rolling right along without a hitch, especially when he managed to dodge the massive pileup set off by Chevy teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman with less than 10 laps to go.
When the restart came, there were just four laps remaining, 10 miles to determine the newest Daytona 500 champion, and Ross Chastain — a Florida native — sat in the top-10 with a golden opportunity to keep the Harley J. Earl Trophy home to Florida for the first time since LeeRoy Yarbrough in 1969.
Ripping down the backstretch with two laps to go, Chastain took the outside line to pass several cars, rising all the way to third by the time the field reached turn 4. With the white flag in sight, that’s when Chastain’s Busch Light Camaro made its move entering the trioval.
That’s when everything went up in smoke.
As Chastain attempted to split the gap between second-place Austin Cindric and eventual winner Byron, fourth-place driver Corey Lajoie clipped the back of Cindric’s car, sending the #2 car careening into the side of the #1 and spinning both cars into the infield before sliding back into traffic.
Thankfully, Chastain’s car wouldn’t be too wounded from the accident, but the damage was done: Ross Chastain would have to wait another year before bringing home the hallowed hardware.
Chastain walked into Atlanta the next week undeterred, notching a top-10 finish and stage points while seeing his teammate Daniel Suárez achieve a much-needed victory. He kept the heat on with a fourth in Vegas before logging a solid sixth in his return to Phoenix.
Two 15th-place runs at Bristol and Richmond sandwiched a 7th-place effort at COTA. Chastain followed that short stretch up with disappointing runs at Martinsville (14th) and Texas (32nd).
Texas can be pointed to as a key race in Chastain’s championship chase. The Alva, Fla. native capitalized on a fantastic pit call from crew chief Phil Surgen to snag the stage 2 victory before wheeling himself back into contention as the race neared its end.
Chastain lost ground to leader Chase Elliott in turns 3 & 4 coming to the white flag but sat in second with a chance to win if Elliott slipped up over the final mile-and-a-half.
After third-place runner William Byron chopped Brad Keselowski’s nose off entering turn 1, he elected to drive through Chastain’s bumper on the exit of turn 2, sending the Trackhouse driver sliding into the outside wall on the backstretch, a 30-point swing that drastically affected his ability to make the postseason on points.
To make matters worse, Chastain was fourth-in-line on the bottom coming through the trioval on the final lap at Talladega the next week until he was swept into the last-lap melee, dropping him from a potential top-5 finish down to 13th.
A so-so performance at Dover led Chastain to the home of his first Truck Series victory all the way back in 2019, Kansas Speedway. Despite contending for much of the first 200 laps and racking up stage points, Ross got blitzed on the lap 206 restart, freefalling from the top-10 to 20th.
Even though the race ended in fireworks out front, Chastain’s Busch Beer Camaro fizzled out and came home a bewildering 19th.
An 11th-place effort at Darlington the next week showed the #1 team was struggling at some of his best tracks, but nobody seemed to be paying much attention to this adversity, expecting them to bounce back like they did the previous season.
Kicking off the second half of the regular season slate at Charlotte, Ross paced the field for 10 laps, collected stage points, and ended the night eighth after the race was called early for inclement weather. He wasn’t able to take that momentum into Gateway though, finishing 12th.
Sonoma provided a return to our regularly-scheduled Ross Chastain content when he ran up front for much of the day before spinning Kyle Busch on the final lap to nab a top-5 result for the first time since Vegas in March.
Fine performances at Iowa (11th) and Loudon (10th) propped Chastain up for a great opportunity to repeat at Nashville at the end of June, and for much of that day, it didn’t look like the Melon Man would be grabbing his second straight Gibson Les Paul.
Just like Texas, Surgen dialed up a strategy call that put the #1 car towards the front, leaving Chastain to do the rest inside the car. On the lap 249 restart, Chastain wrestled the lead away from Ryan Blaney to take the lead, attempting set sail while drivers with fresher rubber advanced through the field.
Approaching the final 10 laps, Chastain held the lead, but his old foe, Denny Hamlin, kept cutting into the gap, eventually putting his FedEx Camry right behind Chastain’s Busch Beer Country Camaro.
Ross mirror-drove to the best of his abilities for a few circuits until his aging tires broke traction on the entry to turn 1 with seven laps to go, allowing Hamlin to duck underneath Chastain to take the lead.
With a lap-and-a-half remaining, a caution flew for an Austin Cindric spin, giving the Trackhouse star one last gasp at securing a much-needed victory and Playoff spot on the ensuing restart.
In an attempt to perhaps intimidate Hamlin, third-place Kyle Larson shoved the #11 all the way down the frontstretch on the restart before trying to duck beneath him entering turn 1. Instead, Larson clipped the apron, shooting his car up the track into Chastain.
The contact ended Chastain’s day, another potential great day ruined by a Chevy teammate.
After a virtual no-show at the Chicago Street Race, Ross looked to rebound at Pocono, but contact with the wall coming out of turn 3 put the Busch Light Peach Camaro behind the garage prior the end of stage 2.
Another pedestrian performance at NASCAR’s return to the Indy oval put the #1 car behind the 8-ball going into the Olympic break with the Playoff cutline shrinking every week.
While everything happening in front of his windshield made headlines at Richmond, Chastain rode to the quietest top-5 finish of his career, helping his standing in the points race. Although Ross snatched 10 stage points at Michigan, the race went to Overtime while he ran in 10th.
What was shaping up to be a great points day went up in smoke on the restart. Chastain leapt to the outside of Denny Hamlin entering turn 1, making it four-wide through the first two corners. When the field merged back together on the backstretch, all Hell broke loose in front of the #1 car as Alex Bowman clipped the wall.
Several drivers let off the gas, including Chastain whom needed to swerve to avoid the calamity. Rather than regain control of the Busch Light Peach Chevy, Chastain’s car got too unsettled and careened into the infield grass, relegating him to a 25th-place result — just one spot ahead of fellow Playoff hopeful, Bubba Wallace.
Heading to one of his home state racetracks at Daytona for the penultimate race of the regular season should have filled Chastain and Trackhouse with confidence when the green flag dropped to kick off the Coke Zero Sugar 400, yet it took just 60 laps for all of that security and confidence to unravel.
Leading a line, Ross became a victim of chain reaction set off by Chevy teammate Corey Lajoie, critically damaging his Worldwide Express Chevy to the point that he was unable to contend for the rest of the night, bringing the wounded bowtie home in 12th.
The skid to round out the regular season significantly impacted his Playoff chances, putting the #1 team in a must-win situation as the series travelled to the Track Too Tough To Tame, Darlington.
Rolling off the grid 22nd, Chastain deftly made his way through the field as the race wore on, and when a flurry of cautions seeped into a once-peaceful race, Surgen fired in a strategy call that put his driver up at the front in the waning laps.
It would be an effort made in vain, however. Eventual race winner Chase Briscoe made an ambitious three-wide move on the bottom entering turn 3 that covered off Chastain and Kyle Larson. The win for Briscoe cemented the #1 team’s fate: they would miss out on the postseason.
Chastain survived Atlanta and racked up stage points before putting the #1 on the pole for the Go Bowling! at the Glen. After taking command of the race right away, Chastain held onto the advantage with an iron grip until pit strategy got between him and scoring the victory.
The Busch Light Buggy failed to rise back to the top of the scoreboard, instead seeing Chris Buescher chasing down Shane van Gisbergen from his fifth-place finishing spot.
Rather than earn as many stage points as possible, his solid performance at Bristol gave way to an even better day in Kansas without stage points.
As the Hollywood Casino 400 began, his car wasn’t completely to his liking, starting the day in 20th and proceeded not to score stage points.
When the final caution flew, Ross’ Kubota Camaro crept into the picture and didn’t split a group of three other drivers four-wide like he did in the spring. He snagged the top spot away from Martin Truex Jr. on the final restart and held off a determined William Byron to notch his first win of 2024, the fifth of his Cup career.
As nice as it would be to suggest it got much better from here, it didn’t. A Chevy teammate bowled through Ryan Blaney at the end of stage 2 at Talladega with the reigning series champion careening into Chastain’s oncoming vehicle, leaving Chastain dead last for the whole day.
Difficult days at the Charlotte Roval and Homestead bracketed a great seventh-place run at Vegas with all these races funneling into the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville.
Even though Chastain struck out on stage points, Surgen and the Moose Fraternity crew kept Chastain on the lead lap heading into the final stage where he started to make ground on the top-10. After passing numerous cars, he pulled up easily to William Bryon’s back bumper with close to 10 laps to go.
Rather than fight the guy that ended his bid at the Daytona 500 and a great finish at Texas, Chastain played it cool by sitting on the outside of Austin Dillon, another Chevy committed to not passing Byron.
This led to a huge 50-point penalty from NASCAR that extinguished any chances that the #1 team could finish 17th in season points. While Chastain put in a solid qualifying lap at the season finale in Phoenix, he was unable to to keep himself in contention, slumping from 3rd at the start of day to 19th.
What to Expect in 2025
Trackhouse added a third full-time team to their stable during the offseason for overseas superstar Shane van Gisbergen after a successful 2024 in the Xfinity Series.
Bringing on an entirely new team tends to be a toss-up as far as how it affects performance for the incumbent teams in the first year. Based on SVG’s presence in the Trackhouse program even while he raced in Xfinity for a different program, I suspect this will be a more seamless transition than other teams in similar circumstances.
I expect Trackhouse to immediately improve their road course program next season. Chastain and Daniel Suárez stand out as strong road course racers, so giving SVG — a multi-time Supercars champion — a full-time shot at Cup can only bolster their performance on tracks with right and left turns.
Individually speaking, Ross has lacked the aggression he showed in his first 50 races at Trackhouse. Concern is growing that he has lost that edge; the Martinsville incident only intensified those concerns.
If Ross Chastain can harness his aggression and use it more effectively (rather than blindly), he can return to title contention, but last year’s version of the #1 team cannot be the version they run it back with in 2025.
With Trackhouse’s aesthetic rebrand to blue and highlighter yellow, look for the #1 Camaro to show flashes of the driver he was when he made headlines while displaying the discipline necessary to consistently run at the front of the field without the aid of strategy calls.
Races Ross Could Win: spring Las Vegas, Texas, Dover
(Top Photo Credit: Amy Contras/Imagn Images)
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