When a young driver makes his entry into one of the top-tier series of NASCAR, there are times that he feels like a fish out of water. And that too, for good reason. When 40 cars run at full speed, with the intention of grabbing that elusive win and that cherished ride down the victory lane, even teammates deny giving even an inch of space to each other.

When Justin Haley signed his deal with Kaulig Racing, he found himself in such a helpless situation. With several seasoned drivers throttling beside him at Superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, Justin Haley might have felt a little intimidated. However, after five years with the team, Haley shed light on the assistance that he had received that has helped him be the driver that he is today.

Justin Haley expressed how NASCAR’s bad boy had helped him

When Justin Haley joined Kaulig Racing in 2019, as an Xfinity Series driver, they had just one top-5 finish and a single Xfinity car. However, he won 4 races from then till 2021, and in the year 2022, he stepped up to the NASCAR Cup Series. However, his success as a rookie in the Xfinity Series did not come without significant help from his teammates

The now Trackhouse Racing speedster Ross Chastain used to be Haley’s teammate at Kaulig Racing. During Haley’s rookie season, Ross Chastain came down from a full-time to a part-time ride on his #10 green and black Chevrolet Camaro, giving Haley more exposure as a driver.

In a recent episode of the Dale JR Download, co-host Matt Davis was curious; knowing Ross Chastain’s wreck-and-break attitude towards racing, he found it hard to believe that he worked in perfect harmony with Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger.

Davis exclaimed, “You guys were legitimate and it seemed, maybe I’m wrong, you tell me, it seemed like it kind of happened without any big giant build-up!”

Haley admitted that he felt like he could have done nothing coming to Daytona and Talladega because there was nobody to help him during the races. He said, “I was like, man, I can’t do anything out here… no one’s helping me, no one’s doing anything. And I went to him(Ross) like, it’s all I got. You can’t win any of these Speedways by yourself. It’s really hard.”

“So we had the 10 car come part-time for a while and the next year it was me and Ross full-time and then AJ did some part-time stuff in the 3rd car at the Speedways to help us… It was obviously all planned out to help,” he added.

Watch This Story: Ross Chastain’s $95 Million Deal and Partnership with Bill Gates

Ross Chastain has indeed played a major role in Kaulig Racing’s success. After all, his victory at Daytona got him the name “Melonman”.

Ross Chastain expressed his pride and joy after gifting Kaulig Racing their first-ever Xfinity Series win

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Throwback to June 2019, the madhouse of Daytona saw a new winner. Ross Chastain and his #10 Chevy. The previous month, NASCAR stripped Chastain’s win at IOWA due to his car failing the post-race inspection. So this victory was a special one for Ross Chastain, as well as for Matt Kaulig.

According to ESPN, Matt Kaulig said, “I can’t wait to get to victory lane. I’ve never even been to it,”

But Ross Chastain did it. Justin Haley finished second. As the three drivers lined up in the victory lane for a celebratory lap, crowds cheered on.

During a post-race interview, Ross Chastain screamed at the top of his voice, expressing how ecstatic he felt. “Oh my gosh, we did it! Daytona, I see you out there!” he cried out with his voice almost breaking from excitement.

Ross Chastain hails from a family of watermelon farmers in Florida. He was never able to watch NASCAR races as a kid in the Spring as it was their time to harvest their melons. However, he admitted that he made sure to show up every July to watch the race at Daytona.

He continued, “These guys right here gave me a race car. Oh my gosh, they could win a race at Daytona and we did it!”

What he did after is a history for sure. Ross Chastain carried a huge watermelon straight from his farm, carried it to the start-finish line, and shouted, “I’m ready!”

As the audience roared, Ross Chastain smashed the watermelon on the track and made his victory memorable like none other.

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