The tension between Logano and Chastain has quietly bubbled through the 2025 season and occasionally boiled over. For example, at Martinsville earlier this year, Logano sparingly laid the blame for a late-race crash on Chastain, saying, “He just races like a jack-ss every week, and I keep paying the price.”

Then, in a Cup Playoffs race at the Roval, Chastain’s spin on the final lap handed Logano advancement into the Round of 8, 0.167 seconds ahead, sparking even more friction. The result: a rivalry built on on-track contact, strategic-pit decisions, and mutual frustration that has become one of NASCAR’s more compelling side stories this year. Now, Chastain has edged past Logano in a unique program.

Chastain Claims Driver Ambassador Program Crown

When NASCAR launched its Driver Ambassador Program this year, it did so with a purpose: to get racers doing more than just driving. The idea was to reward drivers who helped promote the sport, from media appearances and fan events to community work. According to media reports, the program is built around two terms each season and offers a $1 million bonus to the top driver in each term.

In the first half of the year, Joey Logano took the top spot in the DAP standings and earned the bonus, showing that big-name drivers could leverage their brand off-track as much as on it. But what makes the story interesting is what happened next: Ross Chastain stepped up in the second half of the program, pushing himself into the conversation and gaining momentum among fans and sponsors alike. While Logano won Term 1, Chastain’s surge in promotion helped him claim the “second half prize,” underlining his growing off-track profile and engagement.

What stands out is how NASCAR orchestrated this with the program’s structure. The DAP tracks drivers’ appearances, social-media reach, interviews, and community work in a competitive, measurable way. The result: drivers doing more than they have in past years. In fact, one metric noted that drivers participating in the DAP logged significantly more promotional hours than in prior seasons, and the entire program saw overall driver-earned media mentions go up.

Chastain himself remarked that the competition-based design helped him invest in himself and the sport. At one point, he said he saw the program as “self-serving, selfish” in the sense that promoting yourself helped both you and your team, but also served NASCAR’s broader goal of boosting the sport’s visibility. That mindset shift is telling: when drivers see promotion as part of the package, it changes how they operate off the track.

For NASCAR, this program feels like a rare positive win, something that doesn’t revolve around crashes, penalties, or format drama. Instead, it’s about amplifying driver voices and bringing fans closer. And the fact that Chastain beat Logano, a big name with a massive platform, only adds to its credibility. Sure, the drivers still race on Sundays, but if they’re more engaged all week, the sport wins.

Looking ahead, the big question is whether this momentum holds. Will the DAP continue to grow, attract sponsor support, and change how drivers balance promotion and performance? With Ross Chastain now at the front of the pack in Term 2, NASCAR has a model: reward the new voices while still leveraging the established stars. It’s a subtle but meaningful shift, one that could make the garage feel less like rivals and more like a team pulling in the same direction.

Ross Chastain’s pit box gets a fresh face

Chastain’s off-track hustle in the DAP mirrors the fresh energy Trackhouse is injecting into his on-track efforts, starting with a crew chief swap that aims to recapture some lost spark. Ross Chastain has a new crew chief for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Last week, Trackhouse Racing announced that Brandon McSwain will lead Chastain and the No. 1 team in 2026. McSwain, who recently served as an engineer for William Byron, had 16 victories with the No. 24 team for Hendrick Motorsports.

Phil Surgen, the former crew chief for the driver of the No. 1 car, will take another job in the Trackhouse Racing organization, paving the way for a new leader. McSwain is the second new crew chief for Trackhouse Racing in 2026, after the organization hired Randall Burnett from Richard Childress Racing for Connor Zilisch.

McSwain is an excellent addition to Trackhouse Racing, as Chastain hasn’t been able to recapture the magic of the 2022 NASCAR season. The former Hendrick Motorsports engineer brings a winning pedigree to Trackhouse Racing and will hit the ground running with Chastain in 2026.

It’s a smart tie-in to Chastain’s DAP success, where his promotional grind showed the same grit he brings to the wheel. Just as he out-hustled Logano for that million-dollar nod, McSwain’s engineering smarts could help Chastain outmaneuver the field next year.

Trackhouse isn’t settling after a middling playoff exit; they’re reloading with Hendrick know-how to chase more Coke 600-style triumphs. With Chastain’s raw talent now paired with a fresh voice on the radio, 2026 might just be the year the watermelon man turns ambassador duties into another championship run.