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Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
NASCAR notebook: Ross Chastain all smiles in Nashville
June 1 - Last week's Coca-Cola 600 race winner Ross Chastain arrived for his Nashville Superspeedway press conference Saturday still wearing a smile -- and his winner's ring -- from last Sunday's victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 32-year-old Floridian turned in one of the most dramatic wins in recent history in the sport's longest race, rallying from last place on the grid (40th) to Victory Lane. Chastain beamed acknowledging the ring on his finger, and said it was purposeful -- providing continued motivation in a season that he hopes kicks into gear now at the official midpoint of the regular-season calendar and at a track where he's won before (2023). "We have a 'first win' ring that we had made at Trackhouse from COTA," Chastain said of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the Austin, Texas, road course. "(Former team owner) Matt Kaulig had win rings made from Daytona in the Xfinity series and now this one. It's a pretty cool collection. I'm not a big ring guy. I'm not a jewelry guy. But these just have so much meaning in it. It says 'Champion' and it says, 'Coca-Cola 600 2025.' "Definitely going to take it off now for practice," he continued. "But it has been motivation this week because this week was a grind. And sometimes I just had to touch the ring and be like -- OK, smile, go to the next thing, make the next flight, get home, like all the stuff." With the victory, Chastain has now earned his entry into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. It marked only the third top-five showing of the season for the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team, but the second in three races after Chastain's runner-up effort in Texas. The win moves Chastain up to eighth place in the championship standings, one of eight drivers with a victory through the first 13 races. --Ranked fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, Chase Elliott has certainly established himself best among those drivers without a win. But for the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, that is not enough. Two of his Hendrick teammates, William Byron and Kyle Larson, are leading the rankings. Consistency has certainly been key to Elliott's season with seven top-10 and three top-five finishes through the opening 13 races. His best effort has been fourth place -- at both COTA and Martinsville. He has been particularly good at this week's Nashville concrete 1.33-miler winning the race in 2022 and scoring a fourth-place finish there in 2023. Looking ahead to next week at Michigan, Elliott has an impressive 10 top-10 finishes -- including three runner-up efforts -- in 14 starts. "I thought we had a really good car last week at Charlotte," Elliott said. "I think it's a product of a lot of hard work and just a collective effort of trying to make some improvement. That's always the goal, just keep chipping away. I think the team is in a really good spot." Elliott knows he's in a good place points standings-wise, but the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and perennial Most Popular Driver isn't satisfied with "pointing" his way into a title run. His last victory came a year ago at Texas Motor Speedway. "Certainly better to be in that position than on the other side of the fence, no doubt," Elliott said of his points position. "But I'd be lying if I said that was my top focus. It's just not. I think that if you're worried about barely getting into the playoffs, I think you have some work to do. "It really is kind of the best way I can think about that. And just to talk about my thought process, I want to be better than that. I want to be in the group of people of how many playoff points do you have, not just barely getting in. Our expectations and goals are above that, and we hope that we can achieve all of our goals." --Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing owner and driver Brad Keselowski is fresh off his best finish of the year in the No. 6 Ford Mustang -- a fifth place run at Charlotte, where his five laps out front marked the first laps he's led this season. Amazingly, the effort was the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion's best work since an 11th-place showing at Las Vegas in March. While he didn't celebrate in victory lane, he got a lot closer and that is something he hopes his team can build off. "Just trying not to do too much, we're hitting our stride as an organization particularly with the six-team," said Keselowski, who is ranked 32nd in the championship standings and hoping to earn a Playoff berth with a victory. His last win came last spring at Darlington, S.C. "The cars are developing more speed. Our execution's getting better. It's an exciting time for us outside of looking where we are in the points standings. We need to build off of that and incrementally inch our way toward being able to win and I think we're really close to that right now. "Last week was a really positive moment for us. The last run of the race we passed at least a half dozen cars and ran the fastest laps and did all the things that make you feel like you can go win." Keselowski has never scored a top 10 at Nashville in four NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track. He heads next week to his home state, Michigan, where he has 15 top-10 finishes in 27 starts, including three runner-up finishes. He has finished top-10 in three of the last four races there. "Last year, I don't think we had as much pace but were getting good finishes," he added. "We have more potential now but didn't have the execution we had last year. I'm just eager to get the execution to match the potential." --Ty Dillon's grandfather Richard Childress was a longtime dear friend and championship car owner for the late, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Sr. When asked if Dillon had watched any of the well-received and recently released Amazon Prime documentary "Earnhardt," he conceded he hasn't had a chance yet, but smiled recalling some fond memories he shared with the great champion. "I was very young at that time, but I just knew Dale (Earnhardt Sr.) from my perspective as a guy that when we were little and we were at the racetrack, he would come and bug my brother (Austin) and I, whether it was pinching us behind the neck or grabbing us as hard as he could to get our attention," Dillon said. "And we didn't really like that. We were kind of scared of him. But man, we grew up every weekend, and where Dale finished determined our week. We got pizza if Dale won, so that was a celebration in our house." Dillon, driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, is making his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Nashville since 2023 when he led four laps but finished 32nd. He is ranked 31st in the championship standings. "Just knowing that kind of perspective after being in sport as a driver myself was crazy," Dillon said of the Earnhardt docuseries. "But the impact (Earnhardt) had on my grandfather, my family, and everybody at RCR, and what that has become because of him and my grandfather's relationship, obviously means so much to myself and our family and everybody in sport. "He was a giant in our sport and a legend. It's just awesome that we continue to talk about him, and the documentary continues to bring his name to the light because he has done so much for what the sport is." --Ryan Truex will be trackside this weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing, ready to serve as a relief driver for Denny Hamlin should Hamlin's fiance, Jordan, go into labor with their third child. --By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
NASCAR free agency: What we're hearing about Trackhouse, Connor Zilisch, Kaulig and more
NASCAR's Silly Season — that time of year when drivers and teams are looking to solidify their plans for the next year and speculation about potential moves ramps up — can often be quiet at the onset, giving the feel that no notable major free agency moves will occur. And then, something out of nowhere drops, causing a ripple effect across the Cup Series landscape. Advertisement Quiet is how things presently stand for this year's version of Silly Season — 'very, very quiet,' according to one executive whose team is often in the middle of NASCAR's free-agency period. 'Crickets' is how another industry source described it. This time, though, the expectation from sources throughout the industry is that Silly Season will remain rather uneventful. That's primarily because four of NASCAR's biggest teams — Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing — essentially have their driver lineups locked in for 2026. Not much change is anticipated among many other teams either, for various reasons (drivers in the middle of contracts, sponsorship, performance, etc.). Still, there are things to keep an eye on into the summer, when many deals are brokered and contracts signed. Let's take a look at the drivers and teams to watch. The big domino this Silly Season is Trackhouse. The Justin Marks-owned team has four drivers under contract and only three spots on its Cup roster — one of which is taken, with Ross Chastain still under contract for multiple years and delivering exceptional performance. Jockeying for the other rides are Daniel Suárez, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch. The former two are currently teammates with Chastain in Cup, while the latter is a promising rookie in NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series. Both van Gisbergen and Zilisch have term remaining on their respective contracts, with Suárez's contract up at the end of the season. And, ultimately, it may come down to just this factor — letting pending free agent Suárez, who sits 30th in points, walk to promote Zilisch. Of course, it may not be this straightforward. Suárez is well-liked within Trackhouse, has sponsorship, and is more proven on ovals than van Gisbergen, who, in just his first full Cup season, has largely struggled with this type of racing after years focusing exclusively on road courses. Trackhouse could decide that van Gisbergen, who is three spots behind Suárez in the points standings, has hit his ceiling as a NASCAR driver and opt to retain Suárez. All of that is predicated on Trackhouse promoting Zilisch. And this is no sure thing. He'll turn just 19 in July, and he's in his first full season competing at NASCAR's national level. Another year of development isn't necessarily a bad thing. And even if he stays in Xfinity full-time, Trackhouse would continue to provide Zilisch limited Cup starts with its fourth part-time entry. Advertisement 'We'll see what his future holds, but right now we have a mechanism in the company to put that extra car out,' Marks said. 'We just want him to get that experience. No expectations for results or anything like that. 'We have the opportunity to give him the learning experience, and we'll continue to do that. The Cup Series is a different sport than the Xfinity Series. It is just so, so difficult. The only way to learn is to go out there and do it.' Keeping Zilisch in Xfinity for another year also effectively allows Trackhouse to kick any major decisions down the road. This pathway would allow Suárez to keep his ride while also giving Marks more of a sample size to see whether van Gisbergen can adapt to ovals. Then, next year, Trackhouse could decide on whether to retain Suárez or van Gisbergen. Marks told The Athletic that no decisions have been made about Trackhouse's 2026 roster, and the team hasn't even started contemplating it. Something to keep in mind, though, there are three street/road courses in the upcoming seven races, giving van Gisbergen a strong chance to score a win. Should he cash in, it would go a long way to firming up his future with Trackhouse for next year. '(Road courses) are where everyone expects us to perform,' van Gisbergen said. '… It's been a big learning process the last couple of months. It'll be nice to have a break and turn right.' A superstar, championship-contending driver like Denny Hamlin being in a contract year would usually generate plenty of discourse on his future. Except in this case, there is a high probability he re-signs with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he's spent the entirety of his 20-year career. Hamlin said as much last week when asked where negotiations stood. 'Working on it,' Hamlin said. 'Should be something done somewhat soon.' Advertisement Seemingly, no Silly Season overview is complete without mentioning Kaulig Racing, whose driver lineup often is in flux from year to year. It came as no surprise, then, that AJ Allmendinger was uncertain about his status for next season — he has bounced between Kaulig's Cup and Xfinity programs in recent years — when asked by The Athletic. Allmendinger said he wasn't sure where things stood, but was happy to do whatever team owner Matt Kaulig and president Chris Rice thought best. But while Allmendinger may be unclear, Rice left no doubt which series Allmendinger will be competing in next year, saying that '100 percent' Allmendinger will remain as driver of Kaulig's No. 16 Cup entry. Keeping Allmendinger in Cup makes sense considering how much he's elevated the team's performance. He is currently ranked 18th in the standings, just 13 points behind the provisional cutoff to make the playoffs. Ask someone in the garage what they think of 23XI Racing reserve driver Corey Heim and the likely response is that he's both ready for and deserving of a full-time Cup ride. The soon-to-be 23-year-old has 15 Truck Series wins in 75 career starts and impressed in limited Cup starts. 'He's going to be a Sunday Cup guy,' said Hamlin, 23XI co-owner. 'There's no doubt in my mind about it. He's going to be with 23XI for the long haul.' But while Heim will likely be in Cup full-time someday, it won't be next year. Instead, he'll continue to race full-time outside of Cup (with spot Cup starts mixed in) while waiting for an opportunity to materialize. Currently, that opportunity isn't there. 23XI's 2026 lineup is set with Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst all under contract. That makes 2027 the earliest timeline for Heim to secure a full-time Cup ride. '(Heim is) doing everything (he's been) asked to,' Hamlin said. 'He's in the building multiple times per week, working on his craft, continuing to get better, waiting on the opportunity. And he knows he's got a long-term future with 23XI Racing, and he's happy with that. And he's happy with the development process that we have set out for him in the future. But, ultimately, there's only three cars, three charters that we're allowed to have, and so we have to figure out in the future where we go with that.' Other names to watch (listed alphabetically): Aric Almirola, Corey LaJoie, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith (Top photo of Connor Zilisch hugging Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
Fox News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox News
NASCAR Power Rankings: Ross Chastain is back after impressive Charlotte win
Ross Chastain had dropped out of the top-10 rankings after Kansas, but he's back in after his thrilling victory Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600. As is typical for the longest race on the NASCAR calendar, the field had its comers and goers. The toughest decision for this list might have been at No. 1. Does Kyle Larson keep it despite crashing out of the 600? Yes he does. Because while the first wreck was his fault, he was on his way to a potentially decent finish, when he was collected in the wreck that ended his day. Here are this week's power rankings heading into Nashville Superspeeedway. Dropped out: Joey Logano (Last Week: 7) On the verge: Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell 10. Tyler Reddick (LW: 9) Reddick was 26th, his fifth consecutive finish of 14th or worse. He probably shouldn't even be on this list. But he was second, third and fourth in the stages and sits fifth in the standings. The 23XI driver and defending regular-season champion is still looking to match the success of last year. 9. Ross Chastain (LW: NR) Chastain won at Charlotte for his fifth top-seven finish in the last seven races. The Trackhouse driver seems to have found a groove after a slow start to the season. 8. Alex Bowman (LW: 5) An early spin for Bowman resulted in a 29th-place finish, three laps down. The Hendrick driver has seven top 10s this year and six finishes of 26th or worse. 7. Chase Briscoe (LW: 10) A third-place finish at Charlotte gave Briscoe his second consecutive top-five finish and his fifth top five of the season. He continues to show the Joe Gibbs Racing ride should suit him. 6. Chase Elliott (LW: 8) Elliott placed sixth at Charlotte for his seventh top-10 finish of the year. The most important aspect of this top-10 finish is that it was the Hendrick driver's first on a mile-and-a-half track this season. 5. Ryan Blaney (LW: 2) Blaney had four top-fives in the last five races, but a wreck at Charlotte ended his day early in 38th. The Penske driver didn't finish in the top 10 in the first two stages, either. That was probably just as frustrating. 4. Denny Hamlin (LW: 6) Hamlin's team had a fueling issue that required him to make a pit stop late in the race. The JGR driver ended up 16th after being second at the end of the second and third stages. 3. Christopher Bell (LW: 3) Bell wound up eighth on a day when he was the first to pit in trying to force other teams to decide on strategy. It wasn't a great night for the JGR driver. 2. William Byron (LW: 4) Byron won the opening three stages and led 283 laps but came up short as Chastain passed him with six laps remaining. It had to stink, but the speed is there in his Hendrick car. 1. Kyle Larson (LW: 1) Larson had a forgettable Sunday, as both his Indy 500 and Coke 600 races ended with crashes. The second of his two crashes in Charlotte wasn't his fault, and he had speed early. He's got to hope he has a better Nashville. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
NBC Sports
7 days ago
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
How the longest night preceded Ross Chastain winning NASCAR's longest race
CONCORD, N.C. — Amid the screaming on the radio after he won the Coca-Cola 600, Ross Chastain had a message for his team. 'Thank you for working all damn night,' he said. The longest race of the NASCAR Cup season was preceded by one of the longest nights of the year for Chastain's team after he crashed his primary car in practice Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 'This group of guys that I've got is relentless,' crew chief Phil Surgen said. 'There was no question that everybody was going to give every bit of effort they had. … We had shop guys that were at concerts and ball games and everything that just dropped what they were doing, came to the shop.' About 33 hours after a tire blew and sent Chastain's car into the wall in practice, he celebrated his first Coca-Cola 600 victory with a burnout, reverse victory lap, watermelon smash and a trip into the stands to share some of that watermelon with fans. Nate Ryan, Originally, the plan was to fix the car Chastain wrecked. Teams can't go to a backup car unless NASCAR allows it. As more damage was uncovered in the car, NASCAR approved the team to go to a backup. Normally, teams would have a backup car at the track but with most of the race shops near Charlotte Motor Speedway — Trackhouse Racing is 6.8 miles away — those vehicles were at the race shops. The team loaded Chastain's wrecked car into a hauler at the track to go to the shop. Trackhouse team members followed and began to convert what was to have been the backup car for this weekend's race at Nashville into Chastain's car for Charlotte. The team had to transfer the engine from primary car to what Chastain would race. Work was need to on the interior of the car. They changed the transaxle. Adjustments to the suspension were made. The team had to scale the car to make sure it was within NASCAR's tolerances. The car had to be wrapped with all the sponsor logos to match the primary car. Dustin Long, Chastain was part of the radio broadcast for Saturday's Xfinity race, and returned to the shop after that race. He stayed until about 10 p.m. before he was told to leave and rest for 600 miles of racing the next day. Team members were there until about 2:30 a.m. and returned at 5:30 a.m. to continue working on the car. It wasn't until about 12:30 p.m. that the team finished the car and loaded into a hauler to transport to Charlotte Motor Speedway. Team members went to the track and sent the car went through inspection there The garage opened at 2 p.m. for crew members and teams could begin to do certain pre-race checks with the car. Once that was done and car was pushed to the grid on pit road, car chief David Fero had a few moments to himself. 'I just sat outside (the team's hauler) on a cooler and took a moment for myself in silence,' he said. 'Just needed to get my thoughts together. You build a car in that time frame, you're exhausted. 'There's a lot of components. We're pretty disciplined when it comes to checklists and processes and all of that, but in that moment, sometimes you kind of push that aside and just do what has to be done. 'An hour before the race you're just sitting there, kind of doing a mental checklist in your head. You're thinking about the engine, you're thinking about the floor, you're thinking about the rear end, everyone else and just taking a moment to be ready for the race because it's long, 600 miles. It can be really grueling.' As he stood in victory lane next to the car, Fero admitted: 'I'm slightly exhausted right now because I haven't slept.' While each of Trackhouse Racing's other eight Cup wins carry significance for various reasons, Sunday's was special to team owner Justin Marks for what the team overcame to win its first Cup crown jewel event. 'I stood in front of everybody at this organization the first day that I took ownership of it back at the end of 2021, and I said, you know, We have everything that we need to be successful here,' Marks said. 'We just have to work together. We have to believe in each other, and we have to fundamentally believe that we can do it, that we can go win big races and contend for championships. If we support each other and go the extra mile and do whatever it takes, then we can get there. 'I think this weekend was a beautiful expression of that, and I am so … unbelievably proud of everybody because what they did this weekend was very, very, very difficult. It was truly a team win.' Relive a dramatic NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What drivers said at Charlotte after the Coke 600 won by Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain — First: ""That's the dedication it takes from Trackhouse. There were people that had Saturdays off, and they came in for this Chevy. To drive on that final run and pass two cars that had been way better all night ... Holy cow, we just won the World 600!" William Byron — Second: "He was catching me, I was trying to just defend and was getting a little bit tight. Disappointning. Just to lead that many laps and such a great effort by our whole team, and I could have anticipated that last run better. Just sucks. We'll just keep going and keep trying to put races together like that." Advertisement Denny Hamlin — Third: ""You can't change the results, so you're going to have to live with it. They're the pros. I'm not a pit guy. I tried to do everything I could. We had a great car, fun battling up front. Heck of a battle there. Would have liked to have seen it through and unfortunately didn't get enough gas in it and had to come back in." Brad Keselowski — Fifth: "We had a really good car. We got mixed up in some of the different stuff in the midpoint of the race and just clawed our way out. I feel like if we could have got to the lead, we could have won the race. I wish it was a 700-mile race. You feel like you earned it. Some of these races you're like, 'I don't know if I earned it.' Today, we earned it. Just getting to the lead dictated so many things and we weren't able to get there, but I think we had the effort to do it. By the end of the night, I thought we were one of the best cars, if not the best. I just wish it was a 700-mile race. We've been really competitive the last few weeks and I feel like it just hasn't all come together and it still hasn't all come together, but this car has got the speed to win the race and I need to go get it. This car was good enough to win. We just weren't able to put all the dots together and some of that falls on me for sure.' Ryan Preece — Ninth: "Honestly, it felt like we were really good. We were really good compared to the competition the first 200, but I've got to figure out how to qualify better because we had a terrible pit selection with just the situation we were in. We kept going to 12th and then would drop to 28th and then drive forward again. Once we got there and the night cooled things off, I just got too loose for how good I was early and that was the difference. Ultimately, I'm happy with a ninth and we're going to continue on. Ford is really lucky to have a guy like Brad on his team, and I'm really lucky to have him as an owner, as a driver, as somebody that I can lean on. He's really been helpful, so it's been a lot of fun and certainly we want that position. We want to be in position to win these races, but today was one of those days where we grinded it out and got a ninth.' Noah Gragson — 10th: "I felt like we had a really good Ford Mustang Dark Horse, but at the end of Stage 3, I was too short in the pit box and screwed us as a team. We really ran up in the top eight pretty much all night. I felt like our car was pretty strong and got set back to start that fourth stage. We were the last car on the lead lap, so to drive back up through the field and finish in the top 10 feels really good.' Advertisement Cody Ware — 25th: 'I feel like today was a day where we can start building our momentum. It was a hard fought 600 miles but we were there at the end. I'm just thankful for the crew to build me such a fast Ford Mustang Dark Horse today and we'll be able to take this 25th place finish and hopefully get a better qualifying draw for Nashville and start to build some momentum. I'm really happy with it. I'm worn out and exhausted and ready to get some sleep and start prepping for Nashville.' Austin Cindric — 31st: 'It's a bit of a shame. I thought we had a solid run going, but I got a little too free and popped the fence. I was trying to be patient all night and still didn't quite get it. I thought we had enough speed to sneak a top 10 in there tonight, but overall it was a difficult evening and I'm proud of the hustle from the guys to be able to finish the race.' Ryan Blaney — 38th: 'It was three-wide and tight getting off the corner. I thought I was kind of high enough as I could go, and it seems like, I don't know if it was just a big squeeze, a couple of us bounced off each other – just tight off (Turn) 4. The first caution set us back and then finally got close to the top 10, but now we're gonna go home early. It's one of those things.' Zane Smith — 39th: 'We got a little behind on adjustments and were racing with guys that are just a little sketchier. Unfortunately, I just got tight and tried to slide up in front of (Shane van Gisbergen) and got a little free and then just got finished off by him. It's unfortunate because we had a really good car until our halfway break. All in all, we've been fast this year and we just need to keep it going." WILL BE UPDATED
