Ross Chastain gets candid about his Trackhouse team’s ‘weakness’ heading into the playoffs 

After missing out last year, Ross Chastain is back in the mix for this year’s playoffs. Thanks to his win in the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 back in May, the Trackhouse Racing driver now has a shot to bag his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Trackhouse Racing has been a formidable opponent, with its drivers picking up a total of five wins (four by Shane van Gisbergen and one by Chastain himself) this year through the regular season. However, there are certain things that Chastain is worried about.

One of those things is the lack of speed. Reflecting on the same, Ross Chastain told the reporters,

“I’ll start with the weakness, because it’s the easiest one. It’s just, are we going to be fast? Are we going to roll off the truck fast for practice at Darlington, and are we going to be able to stay fast on lap 10 of that run, lap 20, lap 30, and transfer that through into qualifying for one lap, and then back to long run for the race? That’s the ultimate question for Trackhouse, in my mind is, can we go fast?”

Ross Chastain’s concern doesn’t end there. Besides packing speed, execution must also be top-notch. After all, we’re talking about the playoffs, and in the playoffs, there is no room for mistakes or “weakness”. That being said, Chastain is confident in his team.

“We can call strategy right. We’ll miss calls. All the little things, I think we can do really well, but it’s holding ourselves accountable to keep doing them well. I don’t just rest on what we’ve done, but you need to make sure we do the little things right,” he added.

The opening race of the 2025 playoffs is scheduled for this coming Sunday, August 31, at Darlington Raceway. Named Cook Out Southern 500, the 367-lap race will stream live on USA (6 pm ET) with radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Ross Chastain hints at running more Truck and Xfinity races in 2026

Ross Chastain recently spoke with Bob Pockrass of FOX regarding his chances of running Xfinity and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races in 2026. As things stand, Cup drivers like Chastain are allowed to run a maximum of five races in the Xfinity or Truck Series, but that number could increase to seven or even eight in 2026.

On that note, Pockrass asked Chastain if he would like to do more non-Cup Series races if possible.

“I would like to," Chastain replied. "I don’t know if it’ll be able to happen, but I just love to race. My team is already working on the possibilities and putting together what races are companion and what races we have sponsorship for.”

“We still have to fund it; either I have to fund it, which is how it’s been most of the time, or the team has to. We’re already working on hypotheticals for Truck and Xfinity,” he added.

Well, Ross Chastain is the only driver who has run five Xfinity Series races this year. Furthermore, he and former Cup Series champion Kyle Busch are the only two drivers who did five Truck races in 2025.