“Just no confidence in the car,” said Ross Chastain when reflecting on his team’s qualifying struggles after the race in Texas. Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet ZL1, the Florida native had a difficult time at ‘The Great American Speedway’, even though he went on to finish second. It’s no secret that the team had struggled with a lack of speed throughout the weekend, as the racer started the 2025 Würth 400 in a disappointing 31st place.

Even though Chastain managed to salvage a runner-up result, it was an uphill task at the 1.5-mile facility. Could Justin Marks’ team manage to find a solution to their qualifying woes? They will need to, especially if the team wants to become genuine title contenders at the end of the year.

Ross Chastain is hopeful for a turnaround at Trackhouse

It hasn’t been easy for Ross Chastain. The Trackhouse Racing star began his third consecutive Cup Series event last weekend from outside the top 30, highlighting his team’s struggles this season. After the opening 11 races of the 2025 campaign, the 32-year-old has an average start of 23.5, eight spots worse than last season and more than three spots lower than his rookie year at NASCAR’s highest level. That’s quite a dire state of affairs, highlighting some major concerns within the team.

Not one to mince his words, Ross Chastain said it like it is on the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Sharing his thoughts ahead of the race weekend in Kansas, he said, “Just consistently qualifying in the 30s in all three Trackhouse cars. Well, Daniel’s been leading the charge in the mid-20s, and it’s just not acceptable with what we have, the resources we have. We will, and we’re working, and I believe we’ll have the turnaround. We’re still going to have off-days on Saturdays, but consistently, we need to see some light in the tunnel. It’s pretty dark on Saturday right now.”

After a poor qualifying result, Chastain spent much of the early part at Texas Motor Speedway trying to claw his way out of 31st place. The track is notoriously hard to make passes on, and by the end of the first stage, he had only managed to come 24th. However, a minor “adjustment” in the car proved to be a game-changer, and as the laps ticked on, Chastain got closer to the front after driving aggressively on the 1.5-mile circuit. However, it was too late to secure a win, but a decent attempt under very difficult circumstances.

Trackhouse Racing is an ambitious team, one that is hoping to compete against Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske for silverware in the Cup Series. Naturally, standards need to be higher to compete against the sports’ heavyweights, and Ross Chastain was quick to acknowledge that. He said, “We’ve elevated ourselves at Trackhouse and with Chevrolet to a spot that we’re not okay with struggling at any parts of these weekends.” However, qualifying results must improve if any of their three drivers hope to enter Victory Lane this year.

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Chastain reveals what made the difference in Texas

In some ways, Ross Chastain had written off the race in Texas before it even began. After all, it had been the same old story every weekend, with a poor qualifying performance and a race to the finish line on Sunday. Six top-10 finishes this year, despite “repeated failures on Saturday,” highlight plenty of missed opportunities for the Trackhouse Racing team, and the Würth 400 was looking like just another disappointing result. However, something changed during the race, which led to a dramatic improvement in the No. 1 Chevy’s performance.

Revealing what turned his race around, Chastain said, “An adjustment on a pit stop somewhere around the end of Stage 1, the first half of Stage 2, maybe. Phil Surgen and the group did something, and it woke the Tootsie’s Chevrolet up; that was the difference, right there. I think it just shows that we have to bring the car that the driver can be confident in, I just haven’t been confident all yesterday and the beginning of the race, and my teammates were the same way. As soon as we restarted and they made that adjustment, I was like ‘that was incredible, where has that been all weekend?’”

With Trackhouse seemingly having found a breakthrough, could Ross Chastain go on to win the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, especially as the No. 1 Chevy driver’s last triumph was at the 1.5-mile tri-oval during fall last year. Justin Marks wants to see at least one of his drivers make it to the playoffs this year, and the 32-year-old is his best chance of making that happen. Do you think Chastain could make it to the postseason this time around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!