Ross Chastain returns to Nashville after a thrilling Coca-Cola 600 victory
Associated Press
LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Ross Chastain is ready to get back behind the wheel of a race car after a busy week celebrating going from worst to victory lane at the Coca-Cola 600 for the first time in his career.
He also knows only too well how humbling racing can be.
'We put ourselves at a lot of high risk getting back on track that the success could be hard again,' Chastain said Saturday still wearing the Coca-Cola 600 winner's ring on his right hand. 'The cars don't know what happened last week.'
Chastain has had three top-three finishes over his past four races, and he goes into Sunday night's Cracker Barrel 400 very familiar with Nashville Superspeedway.
Music City is home to his Trackhouse Racing team, and Chastain won here in 2023. He also has finished second and fifth, and had a chance to win last year. This also will be Trackhouse Racing's 300th Cup race.
Chastain credited his crew chief Phil Surgen and Trackhouse Racing but said he doesn't know why he's been so successful at this track. Chastain said he doesn't feel like he does anything different down to his preparation.
"We have really, really good race cars,' Chastain said of his No. 1 Chevrolet.
This race now is a month earlier than the past four years, and the Cracker Barrel 400 comes exactly halfway through NASCAR's regular season. Chastain is among the eight drivers already locked into the playoffs with a victory. No repeat performance
This race took a record five overtimes to finish a year ago with Joey Logano surviving for his first Cup win of 2024. He had saved just enough gas to pull out that victory, so of course it merited a look back just in case.
'You don't know that opportunity will ever present itself again,' Logano said. "It's a pretty rare opportunity for it to end up like that. But because we were ready for it and we were prepared that day that's what helped us win. So yeah, you're always kind of looking at that stuff' Concrete challenge
Brad Keselowski, currently 32nd in the standings, won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race here in 2008. He walked the D-shaped track Saturday and marveled at how Nashville, which hosted its first races in 2001, has aged since his career-changing victory.
'It's kind of aged like fine wine," Keselowski said. "When I was doing the walk I was thinking about it. The surface is 25, 26 years old, and it's in great condition. The facilities are in great condition. It's just really a kind of walk back in time for me.' Start of new In-Season Challenge
Nashville kicks off NASCAR's new In-Season Challenge involving 32 drivers and a single-elimination over five races starting June 28 at Atlanta. The top 32 drivers in points after Sunday night's race in Nashville will make up the field for the three seeding races.
Those races start at Michigan on June 8, and conclude at Pocono on June 22. Drivers will be seeded by their best finish over those three races for the competition starting at Atlanta. The field will be narrowed to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and finally two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The tournament comes with a $1 million prize to the winner and is part of a new media rights deal including TNT. Odds and Ends
Denny Hamlin at +350 is the betting favorite to win Sunday night, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Kyle Larson (+550), Christopher Bell (+650) and William Byron (+725). If Hamlin makes the starting line Sunday night remains to be seen. His fiancee is expecting their third child, a boy, with Sunday the due date. Hamlin said he has an eight-hour window to race and get home but hadn't set a timeline to make a final decision before qualifying. 'I can't miss it,' Hamlin said of his new son's arrival. ... This race has had a different winner each of the first four years at this track. ... Country music singer Chase Rice, a former NASCAR pit crew member, will be the honorary pace car driver Sunday night. Rice has sold more than 2.8 million albums and had more than 2.9 billion total streams. His hits include 'Eyes on You,' 'Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen.' and 'Lonely If You Are.'
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
recommended
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NASCAR Through the Gears: Kyle Larson sinks, Ross Chastain rises, Tom Cruise kicks the tires
Think we can slow the roll on all that talk about Kyle Larson being the planet's best race-car driver? While a lot of guys make it look easy sometimes, some of the guys make it look easy all the time. Kyle had always been one of those "all the time" guys. Is he still? Advertisement Let's just say, there won't likely be a lot of talk about teeing up another attempt at the Indy-Charlotte double next year. Is all that fair? Probably not. Everyone in every sport has a bad day. And/or a bad night. Sunday, Kyle had both, when he lost the wheel and tested SAFER Barriers at both Indianapolis and Charlotte. It was that kind of day, and night, for Kyle Larson. Sounds like Kyle needs a good cleansing of the palate. Barring changes in his schedule, he'll get one Friday when he returns to Indiana for some short-track sprint-car action on the dirt at Lawrenceburg. From there, it's south toward Nashville for the next NASCAR stop and, thankfully, a flip of the calendar to put May behind him. Advertisement On the other hand, there's Ross Chastain. He'd been putting together a solid season free of too many clankers, but hadn't been leading many laps and therefore was kinda/sorta off the radar. Guess what. Sunday night at Charlotte, he put together a solid night, free of issues, but remained in the shadows without leading laps … until everything changed. INDY'S WILD WEEK Kyle Larson isn't big story as Indy 500 nears. Roger Penske, others driving news cycle First Gear: William Byron dominates Charlotte, Ross Chastain wins In eight of 12 starts before Sunday night, Ross the Boss had finished between second and 12th, but had only led laps in two races and was 11th in points, with no stage wins and therefore no playoff points to carry into the postseason. Advertisement Everything changed late Sunday when Chastain's fresher tires helped him pass William Byron and hang on for his sixth career Cup victory. Billy the Kid was in no mood for consolation, but he won the first three stages to collect a few more bonus points, and 65 total points (to Chastain's 50) to increase his overall points lead. That could pay off in a regular-season points championship and the 15 playoff bonus points that come with it. And we say all that because we all know how such things can pay off in September and October. Chastain has now won races in each of the past four seasons, so Sunday was no big surprise or upset. But if they offered bonus points for 'degree of difficulty,' he and his No. 1 Chevy team would be rolling in 'em after this past weekend. Advertisement A crash in pre-qualifying practice was bad enough to force Chastain into a backup car, which would start dead-last in the 40-car field. The 'Boys in the Shop' put aside any need for sleep to put their driver in a good race car. It doesn't usually pay off, much less in such a big way. But it's good to know it can. Some team wins are more teamy than others. Second Gear: Amazon Prime Video reviews and non-reviews Well, NASCAR's first Cup race on Amazon's Prime Video has come and gone, and the reviews couldn't produce a bigger gulf. For better and worse, the best way to check the pulse on such things is to peruse 'social' media. And man, what a weirdly mixed bag. Advertisement On one side, you have the Prime lovers. They loved having Junior Earnhardt back in the broadcast booth and loved seeing Carl Edwards back in their lives. And frankly, if you didn't enjoy Prime's NASCAR theme, courtesy of John Fogerty and Eric Church, I can't help you. Maybe even better, they loved the near-disappearance of full-blown commercial breaks (they only arrived at stage breaks). And were overjoyed at watching those last 55 laps without even those mildly irritating side-by-side ads that let you continue watching the race on half the screen. Makes you wonder how we survived all those years on our 19-inch Zenith. Advertisement You want numbers to back things up? Here you go, courtesy of the CawsNjaws website: Sunday night featured just nine minutes of traditional commercial breaks (again, during stage breaks) and 42 minutes of the side-by-side stuff with the commercial and race on the screen together. The most recent regular-season Cup race, at Kansas, had 39 minutes of old-school commercial breaks and just six minutes of side-by-side. So it probably depends on what you hate more (or less) — total breakaways or that side-by-side spoonin' action. On the other side of the reviews, there basically are no reviews. Those folks don't have Prime, will not be forced to get Prime, and frankly, might quit Amazon altogether and start going back to Winn-Dixie to buy their Folgers and Quaker Oats. Third Gear: Tom Cruise is kicking the NASCAR tires Man oh man, those were a couple of tall gears, so let's make shorter work of the next two. Advertisement Tom Cruise, whose long-awaited 'Top Gun' sequel was a huge hit a few years ago, is ready to give the same treatment to his 1990 stock-car effort, 'Days of Thunder.' OK, maybe Tom isn't all-in on a NASCAR-themed reboot. But it appears to be on the table, considering what he told the 'Today' show last week. 'All of these things we're working on … we're discussing 'Days of Thunder' and 'Top Gun: Maverick.' There are numerous other films that we're actively working on right now.' In Hollywood, everyone is always 'talking' about future projects. So there's that. But also in Hollywood, not everyone is Tom Cruise. Fourth Gear: Brad Keselowski doesn't fall apart! Yes! Maybe the racing gods were focusing their negative mojo on Kyle Larson this past weekend, but they certainly, and finally, took their boots off Brad Keselowski's HANS Device. Advertisement Kez did something Sunday night he'd done 155 previous times in his long Cup Series career. He finished fifth for his 156th career top-five. Should be no big deal, except this top-five came after the worst run of racing (and luck) Kez has dealt with in a career dating back to 2008. And it appears he used a different strategy, though obviously not intentionally. In recent weeks, Kez had been running fair-to-excellent, only to get derailed by a broken this-or-that or a dreaded wrong place/wrong time situation. Sunday at Charlotte, he kept quiet throughout, didn't even post a top-10 in the first three stages. Advertisement But he worked his way from 13th after Stage 3 toward the front, and even led five laps during some pit cycling. Afterward, he said, 'I feel like if we could have gotten to the lead, we could have won the race.' Well, yeah, that's generally the way it works when it does work. But take the top-five and hold tight to that sliver of momentum. The much-needed fifth saw Kez leapfrog from 33rd in the standings all the way to … um … 32nd. But still, progress. — Email Ken Willis at This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR: Kyle Larson hates May, Prime hates ads, Tom Cruise drops hint
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NASCAR qualifying results: Nashville starting lineup set for Sunday race on Prime
Chase Briscoe's year of improvement continued Saturday as he captured the pole for Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Generally speaking, the faster qualifiers at Nashville have finished well on race day. Advertisement Nashville Superspeedway has been on NASCAR's Cup Series schedule since 2021. In the four previous races there, the pole sitter has gone on to win the race once (Ross Chastain in 2023), and in two other years, the pole winner finished fourth (not bad) while the race winner started fifth and sixth (also not bad). Then came last year, when Joey Logano won the race after starting 26th. The pole winner, Denny Hamlin, finished outside the top 10, in 12th. Which Nashville history will play out this weekend, the more recent or those earlier three years? THRU THE GEARS Kyle Larson sinks, Ross Chastain rises, Tom Cruise kicks the tires NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin is introduced before the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Sunday, June 30, 2024. 10 fastest speeds in Nashville qualifying Chase Briscoe: 164.395 Advertisement Denny Hamlin: 164.119 William Byron: 163.374 Tyler Reddick: 163.368 Ross Chastain: 163.357 Brad Keselowski: 162.985 Christopher Bell: 162.929 Michael McDOwell: 162.874 Joey Logano: 162.669 Chris Buescher: 162.619 NASCAR starting lineup for Cracker Barrel 400 Sunday at Nashville Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford Chris Buescher, No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota JJ Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet Chad Finchum, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford How to watch: Time, TV channel for NASCAR races at Nashville Saturday: Xfinity Series, Tennessee Lottery 250, 7:30 p.m. (CW). Sunday: Cup Series, Cracker Barrel 400, 7 p.m. (Prime). This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR lineup: Qualifying results set starting grid for Nashville race
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NASCAR results: Full finishing order of Cracker Barrel 400 race at Nashville Superspeedway
Ryan Blaney returned to Victory Lane for the first time in 2025 Sunday. The 31-year-old led a race-high 139 laps during the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. It's the 14th win of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion's career. He had not won since the penultimate race of last year's playoffs at Martinsville. Advertisement So far this season, nine different drivers have taken checkered flags and punched their postseason tickets. Behind Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and William Byron filled in the rest of the top five. Here's the full finishing order: NASCAR standings: Results from Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville today Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joey Logano, No. 22 William Byron, No. 24 Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Erik Jones, No. 43 Kyle Larson, No. 5 Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Christopher Bell, No. 20 Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kyle Busch, No. 8 Zane Smith, No. 38 Chris Buescher, No. 17 Chase Elliott, No. 9 Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Austin Cindric, No. 2 Cole Custer, No. 41 AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Michael McDowell, No. 71 Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Riley Herbst, No. 35 Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Ty Dillon, No. 10 John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Ryan Preece, No. 60 Austin Dillon, No. 3 Josh Berry, No. 21 Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Justin Haley, No. 7 Cody Ware, No. 51 JJ Yeley, No. 44 Chad Finchum, No. 66 Alex Bowman, No. 48 Corey Heim, No. 67 Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR race today: Results, winner of Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville
