MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Ross Chastain ended a 29-race winless streak with his victory on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Chastain, who last won in last year’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway, said trusting the process was important to his Trackhouse Racing No. 1 Chevrolet team getting the monkey off its back.
“It’s satisfaction. It’s seeing the process through. You have heard me talk about it a couple of minutes. Yes, I have a process, but the process is always evolving,” Chastain said after his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series triumph.
“I can kind of lump anything into it that I think is going to help me be a better race car driver. Although the inputs, the effort is there, the results do not come. That’s live sports,” he said bluntly. “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.”
Chastain did not qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive year and both years he has won a race during the 10-race fight for the championship. He said he’s conflicted about playing the role of a spoiler.
“Well, it’s tough because in the moment I’m looking in the rearview camera, and I see the 24 and 48. I see the 24 most notably. William (Byron) is a guy that I want to see win. I want to see him succeed. He is one of the few guys that I can say I’m buddies with, and we are kind of aligned in life.
“Although we come from different back grounds, we kind of came to the central point, and we get along more than I get along with most people.
Would I have loved to see the 24 drive into victory lane and lock himself into the round of 8? Sure. But not enough to pass the 1 car because I’m driving it.”
Chastain beat Byron to the checkered flag by .388 seconds.
“It was everything that I could do to stay in front of him, and there were times where he would gain on me,” Chastain explained. “Actually two to go — we took two to go, we rolled one and two. We come off turn two, and I’m, like, He is closer than he has been this entire run. What just happened? I thought I was just managing the gap.”
So, yeah, spoiler, yes, but when I’m watching, and I’m seeing my Chevy teammates, the people that I work with during the week. We do DIL simulations, like our simulator sessions in the simulators together with HMS, with RCR, and Trackhouse. I want them to succeed,” he continued. “I want the 99 (Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suarez) to succeed. I wish the 99 — I wish that Daniel was the one winning, but not at the expense of the 1 car and not at the expense of me.
“At the end of the day would I truly give up the win? I would not. I don’t care. It could lock them into anything. If I have a chance to win, I’m going to win.”