TALLADEGA, Ala: Hoping to follow up on the success of his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway from April, Ross Chastain had championship hopes on the line and needed to have a good finish in Sunday afternoon’s YellaWood 500 to have any chance of advancing to the Round of 8.
Unlike the spring when Chastain had a chaotic race and happened to be at the right place at the right time, the Trackhouse Racing rookie took advantage of a strong No. 1 Jockey Made in America Chevrolet and used it to his advantage.
After spending the opening laps of the race inside the top-10, Chastain and his team decided to play the strategy card early and sacrifice stage points early in hopes it would pay dividends later.
After finishing Stage 1 in 16th their strategy called moved them to third for the start of Stage 2. Throughout the stage, Chastain minded his matters and kept himself out of trouble.
A green-flag pit stop during Stage 2 briefly shuffled him outside the top-10 to 14th but over the waning laps of the stage, he was able to jockey for position and find himself sixth when the green and white checkered flag waved signifying the end of Stage 2.
With four points added points to his cushion, he restarted seventh for the start of Stage 3 and currently surged to the front.
Propelling his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the lead on Lap 129, he would control the race for 24 laps before making a planned pit stop on Lap 161 for right side tires and six seconds of fuel.
When pit stops cycled through, Chastain landed third but was advised to save fuel — hoping to have enough in the tank for a late race caution or an overtime run.
Daniel Hemric stalled at Lap 183 bringing out the final caution of the race and setting up for a green-white-checkered finish.
In a chaotic run to the finish, Chastain would find himself in contention to sweep the season at the 2.66-mile superspeedway but settled for fourth, 0.160 second behind winner Chase Elliott.
After the race, Chastain said if he had an opportunity, things would have been done differently.
“For sure,” he said. “We made a lot of moves; a lot of moves got made on us. There are 188 laps. I would say there’s two or three times a lap you have a decision to make.
“There’s two that stick out in my mind where I had control of the middle lane, and I went bottom. Needed to just stay middle. It was so weird. It was just different, it wasn’t weird. The cars ran better in the middle lane.
“Worked really well with the 12 (Ryan Blaney) there and a couple of guys. Good to work with them again. It has been a few years that me and Ryan tried to tandem here in trucks 10 years ago.
“It’s wild to think we have been here a decade in this sport, and I had Ryan and Brad (Keselowski) lined up. That was some cool moments. Get a Chevy in Victory Lane, that makes it even sweeter.”
As far as the playoff picture looks for Chastain, he advanced to third overall, 28 points above the cut line heading to the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ROVAL next weekend.
“Better than anything less,” added Chastain. “Every point earned is just better. It’s never ending. You just want more.
“With 29 I’d feel better, but if it was 27 I’d feel worse. 28 is nice, really good points earned today for Daniel (Suarez) and myself.
“For this Trackhouse group to keep executing throughout those Playoffs, we’re figuring this out as we go. I’m experiencing this and loving every moment of it as I get to do this. “
The Round of 12 concludes with the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Road Course on Sun., October 8, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @Grace3140.
