Ross Chastain might have missed out on the NASCAR Cup playoffs, however earned some comfort together with his first victory of the 2024 season at Kansas by holding off William Byron.
The Trackhouse Chevrolet driver’s fifth victory of his Cup profession, all with the #1 on his door, makes him essentially the most profitable Cup driver within the quantity’s historical past.
In ending a dry spell relationship again to the ultimate race of final season, he grew to become the seventeenth totally different race winner within the Cup Sequence this 12 months.
“It is an enormous deal,” stated Chastain whereas taking a chew out of a freshly smashed watermelon. “For us on this #1 crew, that is what Cup racing is all about.
“It is what Justin Marks purchased into Trackhouse with Pitbull – to do stuff like this. To disrupt.
“There’s been instances this 12 months once we could not have disrupted [a] minnow pond outdoors of Darlington, not to mention a Cup race.”
Behind Byron’s Hendrick Chevrolet which gained the opening Stage, Martin Truex Jr. (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) completed third forward of Ryan Blaney (Penske Ford) and Ty Gibbs (JGR).
Byron’s team-mate Alex Bowman beat JGR team-mates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin into sixth, whereas Chase Elliott (Hendrick), and Zane Smith (Spire Chevrolet) rounded out the highest 10.
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, Kubota Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Photographs
A warning close to the top of Stage 2 jumbled the operating order round, as a number of automobiles selected to pit early whereas many playoff drivers stayed out to earn some further stage factors – with Bowman ending up on prime. As soon as they’d pitted, a brand new group of drivers emerged out entrance for the beginning of the ultimate stage.
Carson Hocevar (Spire) led briefly, till Chastain charged from fifth to first, however Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Chevrolet) finally clawed the lead away after an intense battle and held the benefit by the ultimate spherical of green-flag pit stops.
Busch was making an attempt to increase his streak of consecutive years with a Cup win to twenty however, whereas heading off Chastain, tagged the wall on the exit of Flip 2 making an attempt to lap the Stewart Haas Ford of playoff contender Chase Briscoe and spun out. He finally completed nineteenth.
In search of his first win of the 12 months, Truex managed to grab the lead on pit street as Brad Keselowski stayed out, however the RFK Ford driver rapidly light as one other wreck broke out in the course of the pack.
The ultimate restart got here with 20 laps remaining. Chastain powered round Truex on the restart and by no means appeared again, taking the checkered flag 0.388s away from Byron.
The playoff image is tight coming into subsequent week’s race at Talladega, the second of three within the Spherical of 12 which concludes on the Charlotte roval.
Kyle Larson (Hendrick) reduce a tyre and crashed early, struggling house to a twenty sixth place end. He stays fourth within the standings, however solely 18 factors above the cut-line. Joey Logano (Penske) is on the bubble, 4 factors above Tyler Reddick (23XI Toyota). Chastain’s team-mate Daniel Suarez is 14 factors out, Briscoe 25 factors out, and Austin Cindric (Penske) 29 factors out.