Both Ross Chastain and his bitter Darlington rival did what they couldn’t here in spring. While his rival Kyle Larson got his first-ever Southern 500 win, the Trackhouse Racing driver made a huge turnaround, ending his series of sluggish performances. Despite a stellar Super speedway run at Nashville that secured his playoff berth with a win, the #1 Chevy failed to deliver the hype, bringing the team a series of bleak outings. But it looks like that’s in the past as he racked up his first top-5 finish after Nashville.

Reflecting on the driver’s resurgence, Trackhouse Racing teammate addressed the NASCAR nation as he detailed the driver’s spectacular finish to regain his form.

Ross Chastain’s crew chief relays the driver’s rise to the top

The #1 Trackhouse Racing Chevy was always a force to be reckoned with, whether it was the driver’s aggression or the team’s ability to put out a fast car. But somehow both the team and its driver have underperformed ever since the infamous race at Darlington.

While Chastain fans got respite when the driver got his first win of the season at Nashville, in the following races, the #1 Chevy looked slow and dull. That is now in the past as Chastain redeemed himself with a stellar top-5 finish. Reflecting on the driver’s finish, crew chief, Phil Surgen got candid to Fronstretch media in the post-race exclusive.

He said, “It’s always good to start the playoffs with a good run, wasn’t really worried about the team or the momentum per se, Darlington’s been a good track for us. We knew we still had it in us, you know, there was no plaguing problem just some circumstances but yeah always great start playoffs with good run.”

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However, the scene wasn’t that bright for the #1 driver in the beginning, suffering setbacks and getting strangled by the field’s frantic pace. Surgen admitted it did not start well for them, saying, “Yeah, it wasn’t looking good there for a while, obviously qualifying put us back to the beginning a little bit. There was a glimpse of speed in the car though once the field got stretched out.” However, in the end, their driver delivered the goods once he found the rhythm. 

Chastain’s crew chief details the challenges they faced at Darlington

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Hardcore fans who have been following the sport religiously over the years can certainly relate to this. Passing is now a hard nut to crack with cars becoming more and more identical. And we have been seeing just that in recent races. Darlington wasn’t much different as Surgen detailed Chastain’s struggles at Darlington.

While the #1 Chevy showed glimpses of speed, the team had to improvise and adapt to the situation, Surgen said, “We had some clean air, we knew we had a car that was capable was a few adjustments away obviously battling dirty air, the car is tight, traffic’s difficult, its really difficult to pass.” 

He then went on to relay the obvious, citing how “The Lady in Black” too became a whole difficult. “Unfortunately, Darlington’s kind of succumbed to the same thing and it was super difficult to pass today so we worked on the car we gained a few positions on each run we had a couple of good restarts, benefitted from you know not having pit when the caution came out and couple of good restarts at the end and solid top 5 days for us. Unfortunately lost out on a few stage points but you know fifth is pretty good. 

With the “Watermelon Man” regaining his form and finding his rhythm, the playoff rounds just became a whole lot more interesting.

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