DRIVER SPOTLIGHT
Q&A WITH
ROSS CHASTAIN
‘WE EAT, DRINK AND SLEEP RACING’
A
fter years of struggling to be an im-
pact player in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ross Chastain has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2022 season. Not that everyone is surprised by his success, though. His newest team owner – former Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck series driver Justin Marks – isn’t. Neither is Chastain’s first NASCAR boss – former Truck Series driver and team owner Stacy Compton. In fact, from the day Chastain first strapped into one of Compton’s trucks in 2011, Compton saw potential for greatness. “This kid is the real deal,” Compton recently said of the 29-year-old driver and eighth-generation watermelon farmer who in his first season with Trackhouse Racing scored Cup Series career victory No. 1 at Circuit of The Americas in March. “He’s a smart, hard racer and crazy competitive. I was impressed after he spent five laps in our truck; he just gets it. He will win
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POLE POSITION 2022
BY JARED TURNER
many more races down the road.” Marks also believes this. After purchasing the NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of 2021 and making plans to expand to a two-car operation at Trackhouse Racing, Marks needed a driver to fill his new seat. He ultimately looked no further than Chastain, one of two drivers who had competed for Ganassi’s Cup program in 2021 but was left without a ride as a result of the Trackhouse acquisition. Not knowing what his future held, Chastain waited – nervously – to see what Marks would do. “When the Ganassi buyout happened, he texted me … and he just wrote, ‘I want this,’” Marks said. “He had to be patient with me while I let the dust settle, but we all were huge, huge believers in Ross’ talent. We knew what he was capable of doing, and he has proven it.” Indeed he has. After entering this season with nary a win and only three top-five finishes in 115 Cup Series starts, Chastain somehow managed to find the proverbial gear he had been missing since making his Cup Series debut in 2017. A quarter of the way through the season, Chastain had five top-five finishes – including his playoffclinching win at Circuit of The Americas. Over an incredible four-race stretch culminating in his triumph in Austin, Texas, Chastain finished no worse than third. That’s pretty head-turning stuff for a guy who had to return to Xfinity Series competition in 2020 after his first two mostly full seasons in the Cup Series bore little fruit. Even today, Chastain sometimes lacks self-confidence. PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES
