Ross Chastain will forever be known for the “Hail Melon.” But the Trackhouse Racing driver is attempting to insert himself back into the conversation.
Chastain won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, ending his year-long winless drought. The No. 1 team largely lacked the speed it had over the past two seasons until the last few weeks, when Chastain’s pace picked up considerably.
“I can kind of lump anything into it that I think is going to help me be a better race car driver,” Chastain said. “Although the inputs, the effort is there, the results do not come. That’s live sports. That’s football, baseball, basketball, soccer, anything around the world sports I might want even know about or definitely I don’t understand, NASCAR included. You can try as hard as you want, and it does not mean that you’re going to be faster.
“But I know that if I show up Monday morning and try and Tuesday morning and try and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and sometimes trying and being the most benefit for the team and for your race car and the performance is actually to go to sleep early. It’s not to get that extra workout in. It’s not to try harder in the gym. It’s actually to taper off, and that’s something that I’ve learned and have put into my life.
“Sometimes, it’s going to sleep early yesterday was a big part of why I can actually perform better today. I took a snack in the car. I kept looking at it, but I wasn’t ready for it, and then all of a sudden we were in the last restart, and I thought, Well, I’m not going to eat it now.”
Chastain’s never-give-up mentality speaks volumes to the man he is. Though he did not qualify for the playoffs, he is setting his sights on playing spoiler again. It’s nothing new, though, as he won the season finale last year at Phoenix.
Meanwhile, teammate Daniel Suarez won earlier in the year at Atlanta and locked himself into the playoffs. Suarez is now in the Round of 12 and has a chance to advance to the Round of 8.
“I learned that last year we won Phoenix, and I had the whole offseason to kind of let it marinate,” he said. “I just let that sink in, and I thought it would be easier. I really did. I thought we had found some stuff, but that wasn’t the case. That will not be the mindset through this offseason.”
Now, though, Chastain is determined to become a contender once again in 2025. With major backing by Anheuser-Busch, there is pressure to perform. This is a sponsor that worked with the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick.
Next year will be a challenge as Trackhouse Racing expands to three cars with Shane van Gisbergen coming on board to pilot the No. 88 car.
But Chastain has proven once again that he can get the job done. 2025 will be the year to see if he can win it all.
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