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Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team, Ross Chastain lost to Chase Briscoe by 0.771 seconds in a nail-biting final lap at Phoenix Raceway.
Competing with Tyler Reddick and Briscoe on the final lap, Chastain said:
“Like a day at the K1 track. That was so much fun to get to race like that at this level. Trackhouse Racing believes in me and AdventHealth and The Moose, these people they believed in me early in the season when stuff wasn’t going great. That’s so cool to race with Tyler (Reddick) and Chase (Briscoe). I mean that’s like everything I’ve ever wanted and my crew chief Phil Surgen, like people don’t know how good he is. His adjustments this year have been so incredible and gave me exactly what I needed. Just came up one spot short. I’m so happy.”
After leading a race-high 83 laps at last weekend’s race en route to a third-place finish, Chastain continued the form in the Phoenix as well. He was in the top-10 all day long but found himself in fourth place in the final stage.
The fight between Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott allowed Kevin Harvick and Chastain to close before the yellow flag flew when 26 laps remained.
On the last-second restart, Chastain went a long way in the lead and was side-by-side with Briscoe for a short period. Another yellow flag with laps to go gave Chastain another chance to jump, but Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang was too strong in the end.
Ross Chastain believes his team will not be underdogs in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series
The Trackhouse Racing team made its debut in the NASCAR Cup Series with last year’s Daytona 500. Everyone thought the Trackhouse Racing team drivers had no chance of winning, but Ross Chastain proved doubters wrong.
Speaking to NASCAR.com about his performance this week, Ross Chastain said:
“I think we don’t have the legacy of winning. I mean, it’s a big deal right now, we win a stage, we’re proud of that. I think where the plan is and the preparation we're putting in is to get to a point where that’s just, ‘Yep, OK. We won another stage, (but) did we win the race?’ …I don’t view us as an underdog and I walk around the shop, we don’t feel like we’re lacking anything.”
The 29-year-old has managed to finish top-five in back-to-back races for the first time in their national series history. It also marked his first Cup Series top-five and top-10 at Phoenix Raceway.
