Ross Chastain Comes Clean on Pent-Up ‘Anger’ Fueling Playoff Push

Ross Chastain’s journey from the watermelon fields of Florida to the high-stakes world of NASCAR Cup Series racing captures the essence of grit and determination. Growing up on his family’s farm, he built a career through sheer perseverance without the backing of big-name sponsors. After entering the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, Chastain unfortunately couldn’t make it last year, finishing below the playoff line despite strong runs. But Chastain, naturally angry with that loss, decided to channel that aggression.

Now sitting eighth in the standings with a solid 21-point cushion above the cutline, Chastain’s 11th-place finish at Darlington’s Cook Out Southern 500 kicked off his playoff run on a positive note. That result, combined with his Coca-Cola 600 victory earlier this season, his first crown jewel win, has him averaging a 16.0 finish across 27 races. History shows how setbacks can ignite a driver’s fire, like when Alan Kulwicki, overlooked and underfunded, channeled his frustrations to claim the 1992 Winston Cup championship. And now, something similar has happened with Chastain.

Ross Chastain opens up on missing last year’s playoffs

In a candid chat on the NASCAR Live podcast, Ross Chastain didn’t hold back about the emotions driving his current campaign. “We missed last year, and I was angry,” he admitted, reflecting on how being sidelined from the 2024 playoffs left a lasting sting. This came after a tough 2024 season where, despite strong showings like a Truck Series win at Darlington, Chastain finished outside the top 16 in Cup points, missing the postseason for the first time since joining Trackhouse Racing in 2022. That absence hit hard, especially after his runner-up finish in the 2022 standings, where he notched two wins and contended fiercely until Phoenix.

Chastain tied that anger directly to his motivation, explaining how it amplified the joy of his Coca-Cola 600 triumph this year. “It made realizing that we won the Coca-Cola 600 that much more special, let alone it being a crown jewel race, but knowing right then, crossing the line that, I mean, in Victory Lane, Media Day popped into my head,” he shared.

Securing that May victory at Charlotte, starting from the rear and leading 10 laps to beat Denny Hamlin, clinched his playoff spot early, allowing Trackhouse to focus on fine-tuning the No. 1 Chevrolet for deeper runs. Coming from humble roots, where he balanced farming duties with local short-track racing in Florida, this win underscored his climb from Xfinity and Truck Series battles to Cup contention, proving setbacks like 2024 only sharpened his edge.

The driver also highlighted how the frustration shaped his offseason mindset. “So definitely that had that fueled us, that fueled me through the end of last season and through the off-season,” Chastain noted, emphasizing the frustration’s role in team preparations. With partners like Busch Light and Moose Fraternity on board, this internal drive helped him rebound, earning three top-5s and 10 top-10s so far in 2025.

His aggressive style, honed from early days at tracks like Punta Gorda Speedway, now pairs with smarter race management, turning past disappointments into a blueprint for success. Yet even with that fuel, Chastain knows execution matters most as the rounds progress. As he eyes tracks like Gateway, where he’s averaged a 14.0 finish in three starts, the question lingers: Can he convert this energy into consistent gains? Or will costly mishaps, like his recent fuel setback at Darlington, hold him back?

Chastain details Darlington fuel setback

Ross Chastain’s Darlington outing showed promise but ultimately fell short due to a late-race pit issue that hampered his momentum. “We had a fueling issue on the last stop, so we were short on gas. So, I had to save a lot of fuel just to get to the end of the race. So, I had to give up. I mean, 7th to 11th, just bleeding spots trying to be off the gas, was half throttle the last 30 laps,” he explained post-race. This mishap occurred during the final green-flag stop, forcing conservation mode on the demanding 1.366-mile oval known as the “Lady in Black,” where tire wear and strategy often decide fates.

Despite the stumble, Chastain collected 12 stage points, a bright spot in a race where he posted an impressive 5.5 average running position in his 250th Cup start. “We grabbed a good handful with the stage points. But no, we did not maximize it. The fuel issues, I call that like a stubbed toe. It cost us four spots,” he added, pinpointing how the error dropped him from a potential top-5 to 11th. Trackhouse Racing has faced consistency challenges this year, with only two top-10s since early June, making such “stubbed toes” particularly costly in the playoff pressure cooker.

Looking ahead, Chastain remains optimistic about rebounding. “We were going to be around fifth, and then we went to seventh, and then the fuel issue took us to 11. So good night, but not perfect,” he summed up, acknowledging his own Stage 3 mistake that lost track position earlier. With Gateway next, a 1.25-mile track where he’s notched one top-10, the No. 1 team aims to iron out these kinks, building on Chastain’s lone 2025 win to push deeper. Predictions vary, but strong qualifying could be key to avoiding an early Round of 16 exit.