Chastain Uses Tire Test Lessons To Garner Loudon Top 10

Ross Chastain in action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

LOUDON, N.H. – A ninth-place finish for Ross Chastain and his No. 1 Kubota Chevy team Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway made for a promising start to the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Considering what Chastain told media members at the NASCAR Productions Facility earlier in the week, the outcome was pleasing for Trackhouse Racing, even if it wasn’t the easiest to obtain.

Chastain explained last Wednesday that he felt Trackhouse’s flat track program was “a half track behind” everyone else, and emphasized the importance of being part of a Goodyear tire test at NHMS earlier in the summer.

He mentioned how the team made the car drive better throughout the two-day session, but wasn’t sure if they made it faster in doing so.

Qualifying eighth certainly helped the confidence of the team, but execution Sunday was the true name of the game. From the get-go, as Chastain later described, a tight-running car was the battle all day.

The first stage of the Mobil 1 301 went solidly well, though the No. 1 fell out of the top 10 and finished the stage in 12th after a late caution led to a one-lap shootout. Losing a few positions at the beginning of the race, on an oval where track position is paramount and passing is tough, certainly didn’t help.

Chastain’s struggle to advance continued into the chaotic mess that was stage two, and he failed to gain stage points again, a detriment to the team’s playoff points position.

Stage three went about the same as the rest of the race until very late. Chastain stayed around the top 15, as each adjustment slowly made the car turn better in the flat corners of the one-mile oval.

A caution with 48 laps to go allowed Chastain the chance to pit for tires, gas, and what would be the last adjustment of the race, hoping to salvage the day.

He and the team did just that. Chastain lined up on the inside of row four after the choose, and as the final run of the race played out, he was able to hold on and nab his fourth career top-10 finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“We started the race just way too tight coming out of the Goodyear tire test here,” said Chastain after the race. “We tried to sure up the entry and exit and thought we could still make it turn in the center, and that just wasn’t the case. So, it was a long day of adjustments for the [No.] 1 boys on this Kubota Chevy with [crew chief] Phil Surgen to get some wedge out of it and get it turning, and then I just had to keep dealing with the exit [struggles] because we never had good forward drive like we thought we would.

“When we were too tight, we went backwards, and when we had it turning better then I magically went forward,” he continued. “It just took us too long to get any stage points, but it’s cool to be disappointed with ninth. That’s something to build on, and we learned from that and offset our balance. If we can get in a better spot starting [out], we’ll be a lot better off going forward.”

The playoffs now turn to Kansas Speedway, where the No. 1 team is the defending winner of the track’s playoff race, even though Chastain wasn’t in the postseason a year ago.

Down 12 points to the cut line, Chastain is eager to return to America’s Heartland and hopes to replicate what he did last fall, in order to make points an afterthought.

“We just need to go win,” he said with a smile when asked about his outlook on Kansas. “We smashed a watermelon there last year and I believe we can do it again.”

If he does win at Kansas, Chastain will return to the Round of 8 for the first time since 2022, the year in which his infamous ‘Hail Melon’ maneuver earned him his lone Championship 4 appearance.

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue at Kansas Speedway with the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, Sept. 28. Broadcast coverage airs at 3 p.m. ET live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.