After Breakthrough Season in 2022, Ross Chastain Finds “Sustaining This Level of Competitiveness at This Level” in NASCAR a Big Challenge: “I Have to Work Harder Now”
One of the biggest revelations of the 2022 season was the true nature of the talent Ross Chastain has. The Trackhouse Racing Team driver made his Cup debut in 2017, making quite a few appearances as a part-timer until his first full-time season in 2021.
But it took one more year for everyone to realize that he was one of the most talented and fiercest racecar drivers currently in the sport today. He announced as much on quite a few occasions last season, most famous of course being, the Hail Melon move at Martinsville which booked his ticket to the Championship 4.
Yet now, Chastain is faced with a different challenge, an even bigger one.
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Because now, he must prove that he can not only replicate the same quality and consistency of top-notch performances every week but can go further and push his own boundaries.
Signed. Sealed. Delivered. ✍️@RossChastain left his mark on us. pic.twitter.com/V09K2JbisS
— Martinsville Speedway (@MartinsvilleSwy) March 7, 2023
Ross Chastain understands the challenge ahead of him in the 2023 season
Speaking in a recent interview with NASCAR, Chastain admitted his lack of confidence in himself, which stems mainly from the potential he and his team have, the weirdness of which wasn’t lost on the driver either.
“Sustaining this level of competitiveness at this level of the sport is so challenging. We race in circles on the weekends and this sport is a huge circle. Teams go up and down. Drivers’ stock goes up and down,” Chastain described.
“So trying to keep ourselves elevated here is going to be tough.”
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Chastain feels he has to work harder now than ever before
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Having admitted the challenge ahead of him in the 2023 season, Ross Chastain described what it would require from him to achieve that level.“I don’t have great words for it, but simply put, I feel like that I have to work harder now than I ever have,” he said.
Chastain added that now he has to drive his #1 Next Gen racecar in “a more precise way”, and “be better.”
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The Trackhouse Racing driver added that he’s worked his whole life to be as good as he is right now, to find that “unknown piece” that takes to drive a racecar slightly better, and how to just deliver on the big stage in NASCAR.
Chastain has shown that he has what it takes to be great, he has admitted he wants to be great, but will he manage to reach greatness?
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The 2023 season will be a big chapter in that journey for the Watermelon man.
Edited by:
Nischal Kandpal