[autotag]Ross Chastain[/autotag] may not have won the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship but he stole the show in the final race of the Round of 8. Chastain performed the well-known “Hail Melon” on the final lap of the race at Martinsville Speedway and made the Championship 4. The Trackhouse Racing driver came up just short in the title race at Phoenix Raceway the next weekend.
It represented a new era for Chastain as he became a popular NASCAR driver in the mainstream media. With one season of competitive racing under his belt, the driver of the No. 1 car explained his mindset going into the 2023 NASCAR playoffs and whether it has changed due to his experience.
“There’s definitely things we’ve learned,” Chastain said. “It can be something as simple as my schedule, how we go about the 10 weeks and on the raceday what we build into my calendar. Fundamentally from a large point of view, we don’t have to do anything different. We didn’t do anything too crazy last year – the Hail Melon and some of that stuff was crazy – but in our preparation and our execution when we got to the track for all these playoff races, we can’t reinvent the wheel this week for Darlington.”
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Ross Chastain SENDS IT to advance to the Championship 4.
Woooooow. pic.twitter.com/CUEDxYyQ9P
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 30, 2022
“We can’t reinvent it for the (Charlotte Roval) or anything. We need to go race. That’s what we’ve done for two years and really three since a lot of us were at (Chip Ganassi Racing) together. We didn’t get here by accident, and it’s OK to go win some of these things. Somebody is going to.”
Chastain may not carry as much momentum into the playoffs as he did last year; however, it would be foolish to count the No. 1 team out. Trackhouse Racing has very good tracks in the 2023 playoffs and it would not be shocking to see Chastain make a run at a title.
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