Ross Chastain sharply strikes back at Clint Bowyer’s Texas comments

Ross Chastain qualified 31st for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. However, with 25 laps to go, the driver managed to move up to seventh. He made the top five not long after, drawing the broadcast's attention, specifically Clint Bowyer’s.

Bowyer noted that it was the first time he had seen Ross Chastain running inside the top five. With only nine laps left in the 267-lap race (which later got stretched by four laps due to overtime), the NASCAR veteran commented,

“I haven't seen Chastain all day long. Closing laps of this race, money on the line, my man is here.”

The Trackhouse driver later went on to record a solid runner-up finish, his best of the 2025 season. When informed of Bowyer’s late-race comments, the Alva, Florida native, said (0:28),

“The broadcast missing something isn't a surprise. So, yeah, we ground through it. It was a slow progression from start of Stage 3 when our jack broke. From there, we were back in the high twenties or something.” [0:27 onwards]

“And then drove all the way up to second. So it was — we didn't just appear there. We weren't an overnight success. That was a full-stage effort,” he added.

Chastain currently sits 11th in the driver standings with 281 points to his name. He will next compete in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. Scheduled for May 11, the 267-lap event will be televised on FS1, 3 pm ET onwards, with live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Now in his fifth year driving the No. 1 entry, Ross Chastain happens to have won his most recent race at Kansas in 2024. The driver is still vying for his first victory of 2025, which will automatically lock him in the playoff rumble.

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NASCAR insider calls out Trackhouse Racing for limiting Ross Chastain’s potential

Renowned NASCAR journalist Jordan Bianchi appeared in the latest episode of The Teardown podcast, saying that Ross Chastain needs to start receiving more backing from his team. He thought that Trackhouse Racing wasn’t sending their fastest cars to the racetrack, thus limiting Chastain’s abilities to deliver stellar performances like he did at Texas.

“He’s just turning in good finish after good finish. One, he’s not qualifying well. He’s not qualifying well because Trackhouse isn’t bringing great cars to the racetrack every week. They don’t have a lot of speed in the race car,” said Bianchi (as quoted by On3).

11 races into the season, Chastain flaunts an average finish of 13.55 despite a starting position of 23.5. He has qualified 17th or worse twice in his last three starts, but managed to finish sixth or better in each one of them.

“This guy just grinds out finishes every single week. It’s like, man, if Trackhouse can just find some speed, you know Chastain is going to be able to go do his job. So impressive,” he added.

Up next for Ross Chastain is Kansas, where the man has four top fives and a pair of top-10s already. It might not be long till he logs his maiden triumph of the 2025 season.