Ross Chastain will graduate to the NASCAR Cup Series fulltime next season, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Chip Ganassi Racing, CATCHFENCE.com has learned.
Monday morning, Chip Ganassi Racing confirmed the news by a tweet.
“I can’t thank Chip enough for this opportunity,” Chastain said in a release. “The faith he and the organization showed me back in 2018 was a real turning point in my career, and I am extremely happy for the chance to join the team again especially with all the great guys they have on the 42 and to be able to team with a champion like Kurt Busch.
“Racing in the Cup Series with a serious contender has always been my goal, and I’m looking forward to joining what is a very strong team. I know I have my work cut out for me, but I’m ready to get to work and help bring more success to the organization.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi said, “Ross has been a part of this organization for a few years now, and I am happy to announce him as our driver for the No. 42 team. In three races with our organization in 2018 and watching ever since he showed me and everyone else that he is a tenacious driver who wants to win.
“We believe that Ross will give our team the opportunity to be competitive each week and our sponsors someone to build a program around. Additionally, his racing background has him well-suited to make the move to the Cup Series.”
Chastain will replace Matt Kenseth in the No. 42 Chevrolet who has been driving for the team since May after Kyle Larson was fired from the organization in April after using a racial slur during the live stream of an iRacing event at the virtual Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy.
Larson remains indefinitely suspended by NASCAR.
Following his fifth runner-up finish of the season in Friday night’s Xfinity Series Food City 300 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Chastain answered a question about the swirling rumor of whether he would drive the No. 42 Cup car next year if it were offered to him?
“Are you kidding me? Of course,” Chastain replied. “Everyone in this (Xfinity) whole entire garage would, yeah. I mean yeah. Who wouldn’t? Everyone would.”
Chastain, a native of Alva, Fla. joined the Concord, N.C.-organization in 2018 competing in three NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
He won the pole at Darlington but ended up in a controversial accident with Kevin Harvick after leading 90 laps. At Las Vegas, he earned his first Xfinity Series victory leading 180 of 200 laps after starting fifth. At Richmond, he finished second after starting third.
The three-race success propelled Chastain into a full-season ride for 2019 backed by partner DC Solar, but that opportunity fell apart in December 2018 when the sponsor was abruptly raided by federal authorities and the company was swiftly dissolved.
With no sponsorship, Chastain had to go back to the drawing board last year but still remained under contract with Chip Ganassi Racing.
In all, Chastain competed in 77 races in 2019 driving for various teams and competing in 35 Cup races, 19 Xfinity and 23 Truck Series – contending for the series’ title in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series for Niece Motorsports.
Chastain finished second in the title chase on the strength of three wins, 10 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes., however, the 27-year-old was setting the tone for this season with Kaulig Racing last year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series where he competed in six races for the Matt Kaulig-owned team and picked up the organization’s first win and his second in the summer race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
He is continuing his role at Kaulig Racing this season driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro, where he heads to Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Alsco 300, the first race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and seeded eighth overall, 40 points behind leader Chase Briscoe.
In addition to full-time Xfinity Series competition this season, Chastain has also competed in two NASCAR Cup Series events for Chip Ganassi Racing this season, including the season-opening Daytona 500 and May’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway post-COVID 19 break.
He finished 25th and 21st, respectively.
Chastain has 79 Cup Series starts to his credit with a career-best finish of 10th in the 2019 Daytona 500 driving for Premium Motorsports.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
