Ross Chastain’s name has become synonymous with unpredictability and courage on the NASCAR circuit, and the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 only added to that reputation. There was a time when he didn’t know that he had a job and would survive racing in NASCAR. Especially after JD Motorsports took the exit door from the Xfinity Series in 2017. He landed at Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR, but once again, he was out looking for a seat after CGR folded their NASCAR operations in 2021. But with Trackhouse Racing taking over the reins of Chip Ganassi charters, he finally had the support he was looking for all these years.

Interestingly, his first NASCAR race in the Truck Series was at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2014 with Viva Motorsports. And even back then, he arranged the sponsorship to be able to compete in that race. From riding one racetrack to another in his motorhome to winning the crown jewel NASCAR race, Chastain is a winner in a true sense, and Kevin Harvick acknowledged this grind on his podcast.

Chastain carves his path in NASCAR’s ever-changing competitive landscape

“He’s a winner. And I think that Trackhouse and that organization realized that they gotta get it right for him, and in order to get it right for him, your cars have to be capable of winning… I hope that he realizes that because he can move the needle in making the people in his organization do things that they might not have otherwise done without him, kind of kicking them in the bu–,” said Harvick, mentioning how Trackhouse Racing might not have achieved their current status without Chastain.

Things weren’t going well for Trackhouse Racing team this year. Having missed the playoffs last year, Chastain was on the edge and demanding more speed and performance from his car, despite a runner-up finish at Texas. “We’ve just been off. I mean, it’s no secret. We’re not sugarcoating it to ourselves or anybody.” He didn’t want to play the points game; rather wanted to secure his playoff spot with a victory.

“Well, and when you put him in position, he doesn’t care who he makes mad, he doesn’t care about the scenario,” said Harvick. “If he’s in position, he’s either gonna crash most likely, crash somebody, but he’s gonna make it happen, he’s gonna give everything that he has.” There is no denying it. Despite having a setback from a crash the previous day in the practice round, Chastain and his team worked day in and day out to fix the car and get it approved for running. He started the race dead last, led just eight laps and parked the No. 1 car in victory lane. And NASCAR would later confirm that this indeed was a historic achievement.

Chastain became the first driver since Bobby Allison at Richmond Fairgrounds in 1969 to officially start the last and win it. And for Harvick, this work ethic and his story from his humble beginnings makes him a true winner. After all, he is just a watermelon farmer who wanted to race cars for a living.“A guy like Ross has been on the other side of the fence, where he just tried to survive and I think that survival mentality, now kind of molded into being a leadership role of the team, from the driver’s perspective, puts him at levels that other people can’t do because they’ve never struggled like he had to struggle.”

Now, this win by the Trackhouse Racing driver wasn’t clean by any means. Had William Byron not lifted his foot of the gas, we might be talking about another driver. But, apart from his grind, he was also calculated in his approach to win the race at Charlotte.

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Ross Chastain’s clear-cut strategy to outrun Byron

Chastain might have used a backup car to pass Byron, who had been leading 283 out of 400 laps, but it was not all magical. Chastain’s use of brilliant strategic moves had him standing on the podium holding the trophy to himself. He understood that getting the lead wasn’t enough to see the checkered flag, and unlike Denny Hamlin, he stuck to the task of defending his lead, rather than trying to outpace the #24 car.

Chastain told PRN Live after the race that his focus was on keeping #24 in the rear-view mirror and blocking any moves from the latter. “I don’t want to just win races by 10 seconds a lap. I have no interest in winning by a lap ever. So as soon as I got the lead, it was just, ‘Don’t hit the wall, don’t get tight.’ We’re both tight, the #24 and #1 car had very similar setups tonight. Part of the key partner alliance, we work together. So I knew that he was tight, I knew I was tight. We were both sliding our front tires, so I just thought, ‘Give myself some wiggle room off the wall, ’ and he wasn’t able to get back to me.”

With a gap of just 0.673 between the 1st and the 2nd positions, Byron could not understand the mind game that was being used against him. He probably lost the race when he allowed Chastain to run him off the track and then allowed to creep his car in front of him. Unlike Hamlin, the #1 car kept a close watch on any potential runs he was trying to make. Despite the #24 car being strong on the long run, he made sure he had the advantage on the crucial last laps, and he was lucky that he didn’t have any cautions.

Ross Chastain knows how to win races, despite the odds stacked against him since the start of the year. He now has his first crown jewel win and spot in the playoffs, marking this as the first comeback story of the 2025 season.