Ross Chastain shares his honest feelings on William Byron making it to the Championship 4

Ross Chastain shared a heartfelt note of admiration for William Byron's win at Martinsville Speedway. The Trackhouse Racing driver commended the No.24 Chevrolet team for beating the likes of Ryan Blaney.

Byron had a dominant run in Sunday's Xfinity 500. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led a career-best total of 304 laps, in addition to setting the fastest lap. However, Byron faced stiff competition from Blaney towards the end.

On lap 456, Byron made a decisive pass on Blaney and held his lead till the checkered flag. While a late-race restart gave Blaney a second chance, the No.24 driver pulled away and never looked back.

Ross Chastain, meanwhile, had a pretty decent finish himself. He came in at fourth after leading eight laps. However, Chastain was more appreciative of Byron's race result.

"I think we just watched William Byron cement himself into the championship race. As a kid, I remember watching the No. 24 car win and dominate here. To be buddies with William now, I saw at the end of the race a guy go and solidify himself in that car for a very long time, not that there was any question about that," he said in a post-race interview with NBC Sports.

"Really cool for Chevrolet to go do that and beat the No. 12 car (Ryan Blaney) here. At a flat track, it’s hard to do these days, but the No. 24 car just flat-out drove by him on the long-run and held him off on the short-run at the end. As a friend, that was really, really cool to watch,” he added.

Ross Chastain was eliminated from the Round of 12 at Charlotte Roval. Nonetheless, the No.1 is focused on winning a race at Phoenix, as per Trackhouse boss, Justin Marks.

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Ross Chastain to share the same car with Shane van Gisbergen in 2026

JR Motorsports recently announced Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen as part-time drivers for the No.9 Chevy in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series next season. The two drivers are expected to run a mix of road courses and oval races as part of JRM's continued partnership with Trackhouse Racing.

NASCAR reporter Joseph Srigley reported on the news with a post on X, writing,

"NEWS: @RossChastain and @ShaneVG97 will compete part-time in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2026, driving the No. 9 for @JRMotorsports."

Ross Chastain made five starts in the No.9 Chevy this season. At his best, he scored a third-place finish at Iowa Speedway, while making top 10 finishes in every other race except Dover, where he retired to a tail-end result.

Shane van Gisbergen, on the other hand, scored a win and a runner-up placing in his three starts with the team.