Tag: Ross Chastain

Ross Chastain’s 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season in review

Ross Chastain had a solid year with Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Here, you can check out Chastain’s 2023 season in review!

[autotag]Ross Chastain[/autotag] made the Championship 4 in 2022 and while it didn’t end with the same result in 2023, it was still a solid year. Chastain ended the season with two wins, 10 top-5 finishes, and 14 top-10 finishes. Unfortunately for the driver of the No. 1 car, he was eliminated in the Round of 12 and wasn’t able to repeat his second-place finish in the point standings for 2023.

Chastain won at Nashville Superspeedway and Phoenix Raceway. In fact, he became the first driver to win the season finale as a non-Championship 4 competitor in the new format. Chastain closed out the campaign with 640 laps led (fifth best) and a 15.0 average finishing position (13th best); however, his season was not very great after Kansas in May.

The Trackhouse Racing driver only had four top-10 finishes over the next 17 races with only seven of those results being in the top 20 spots. It was a rough second half of the season for Chastain but he turned it around with three top-5 finishes in the last five races, including a win at Phoenix. Yet, it wasn’t the year that everyone expected out of him.

Chastain will need to carry this momentum into the 2024 NASCAR season to truly compete for a title. The driver of the No. 1 car struggled to find consistency for a majority of the season and that is very important to have if a title is the goal. For now, Chastain will look to win two straight points races when the 2024 Daytona 500 arrives in February.

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‘I know he’s mad and I don’t care’ – Chastain on Blaney battle

Ross Chastain was aware of the NASCAR championship fight but didn’t care to concede a race win. Ryan Blaney didn’t care for how Chastain was driving because he was trying to ride and hide for his championship rivals. The difference in philosophies …

Ross Chastain was aware of the NASCAR championship fight but didn’t care to concede a race win. Ryan Blaney didn’t care for how Chastain was driving because he was trying to ride and hide for his championship rivals.

The difference in philosophies led to a few tense moments past the lap 250 mark on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway as the two battled and traded the lead. Chastain drove hard and clean but used the air to his advantage. Blaney expressed his growing frustration with Chastain over his radio, and at one point drove deep into Turns 1 and 2 and ran into the back of the Trackhouse Racing driver.

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“I was not going to crash him,” Chastain said. “I was not going to use my front bumper, side fenders, anything. Dirty air? Different story. Yeah, I’m going to. I’m going to keep the lead because that’s everything.

“Before the second to last run, I thought we had him covered. Coming to the end of Stage 2, the 17 (Chris Buescher) drove by me, made some adjustments, (and) got too loose. We were too tight, too loose, too tight again when Blaney and the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) right there when the last caution came out. I asked Phil [Surgen] and our group to please let me turn better, make the car turn better without giving up any rear grip.

“I know he’s mad and I don’t care. I do not care. I did not care then; I do not care now. I’m here to race him. I’m not going to wreck him. I gave him the bottom most times. One time I was inside of him after he got by me, I crossed back over into (Turn) 3 and I made sure to wrap the bottom. I’m not going to slide up and pinch him at all. It’s in my mind the entire time, for sure.”

Chastain led a race-high 157 laps. He took the lead for the final time with 29 laps to go, two laps after the race restarted for the final time. Blaney finished second in the race and won the championship. Down the stretch, Chastain went unchallenged as Blaney worked his way past fellow title contenders Kyle Larson and William Byron.

But Blaney had already made it clear how he felt about Chastain. Over the radio, Blaney called him a “piece of (expletive)” and “air blocking mother (expletive).” And according to Chastain, there might have been a middle finger used, too.

“There’s no secret that I can snap on the radio,” Blaney said. “That’s been my whole life. That’s been my whole career. It’s just kind of something I do. The fact that Ross said I raced him hard, the dude blocked three lanes in the corner of every lap. I don’t know how I’m racing him hard.

“When you look in the mirror going left, right, left, following wherever I go, I don’t understand how he thinks I’m racing him hard. He’s backing me up to (Larson). I have to go. He’s backing me up to Larson to where I’m going to be in trouble.”

There was no denial from Blaney that he ran into the back of Chastain on purpose.

“(Expletive) right I hit him on purpose,” Blaney said. “He blocked me on purpose 10 times. So, yeah, I hit him on purpose. What do you expect me to do? He’s backing me up to the other championship guy and I got to go.

“We were just racing hard. But do I think he was over-excessive on the blocks? Yes, very much so. Did I hit him? Yes, I did. That’s just part of it.”

Chastain became the first non-championship contender to win the finale in the elimination era (2014 to present). In doing so, Chastain bucked the trend and perception that the championship contenders are given more space and guaranteed positions.

“I’m proud that we won,” Chastain said. “I watched practice back [on] Saturday morning. I heard Dale Earnhardt Jr. say, ‘Ross will be one, get up and race these guys.’ I paused it and I’m like, ‘Would I do that? I don’t know. That seems kind of aggressive.’ I clicked it. I didn’t really have an answer for myself. I asked myself, would I race them? I was like, I’ll race ’em. He’s like, ‘He’s going to race ’em aggressive, he’s going to do it. If there is anybody that will do it, he’ll do it.’ Whatever he said.

“Then I got out there and I was like, I’m doing it, I am racing them. The difference was I’m not going to use my front bumper, front fenders, side. I’m not going to pinch them up into the wall. I didn’t mean to fence Larson at Darlington, but I did it. I was not going to do that. I was not going to drive into the corner.

“When he cleared me down into (Turn) 1, I’m not going to try to make it anything other than cross him over and do it clean, have leverage into (Turn) 3, wrap the bottom. It worked. I was like, holy cow. He passed me, he’s faster, but I got right back by him. I don’t think he led the lap.

“In my mind the whole time, proud of the precision driving we all did. The only contact was him just in a moment of anger throttling up in (Turns) 1 and 2 and drive square up into my back bumper. Other than that, no contact. That’s what I’m here to do.”

Blaney powers to first Cup Series title, Chastain wins at Phoenix

For the first time in 10 years of the elimination Playoff format, the NASCAR Cup Series champion failed to win the title race-not that it mattered one bit to 2023 champion Ryan Blaney. When he took the checkered flag in second place in the NASCAR …

For the first time in 10 years of the elimination Playoff format, the NASCAR Cup Series champion failed to win the title race—not that it mattered one bit to 2023 champion Ryan Blaney.

When he took the checkered flag in second place in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, the driver of the No. 12 Ford gave Team Penske its second straight title in NASCAR’s premier series and gave Ford a sweep of Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Oh, and as Blaney was pulling away from Kyle Larson and William Byron over a 31-lap green-flag run to the finish to claim his first Cup championship on Sunday, Ross Chastain secured his second victory of the season.

In a fierce battle for the title against 2021 champion Kyle Larson, Blaney edged ahead of the Hendrick Motorsports driver on lap 292 and secured second place behind Chastain, who grabbed the top spot from Denny Hamlin after a restart on lap 282.

 

Chastain crossed the finish line 1.230s ahead of Blaney, whose elation wasn’t dulled one iota by the runner-up result—given the bigger prize he won by finishing second.

“Unbelievable year, unbelievable Playoffs for us,” said Blaney, who won last week at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4 with Larson, Byron and Christopher Bell. “To win back-to-back Cup titles for (team owner Roger) Penske, that’s so special. Having my family here, winning my first Cup title, I got emotional in the car. I’m not a very emotional guy.

“You never want to count yourself out. I mean, I think in the summer we were struggling a little bit, but we never gave up. We just went to work. I’ve said that all week, like, this group goes to work, and they figure out problems. That’s why they’re such an amazing group to be with, with the Team Penske folks, ’cause they just put their head down and do the work, accept the challenge.”

Bell fell out of the race on lap 108, but Blaney, Larson and Byron came home second, third and fourth. Blaney’s margin over Larson at the finish was 2.243s. Though Larson beat Blaney off pit road during the final caution for Kyle Busch’s spin in Turn 3 on lap 275, Larson couldn’t hold off Blaney’s superior car.

“Yeah, his car was really fast,” Larson acknowledged. “Really the last few months. Yeah, especially here today. Our pit crew and pit road really kept us in the game. We weren’t the greatest on the track, but I was just hoping for pit stops ’cause I knew the way our team executed… the way our pit crew can execute a fast pit stop, I knew that was going to be our only shot really to win.

“They did everything in their power to give us the winning job done there. Huge thank you to them. I needed to come out the leader on that restart. Ross got a really good start from the second row. Was hoping I could get clear of Denny and get the lead, have Ross kind of protect for me behind me.

“I’m not sure if it would have made a difference.”

Byron took off from the pole position and won the first 60-lap stage wire-to-wire but not without a challenge from third-place starter Kevin Harvick and a charge from Chastain, who was eighth on the grid to start the race.

Over the final three laps of the stage, Byron used the high line through the corners to hold off Harvick, who finished second. Chastain was third after 60 laps, 0.584s behind the stage winner at the green/checkered flag.

First off pit road from stall one, Byron opened a lead of more than a second after the break. Larson, Blaney and Bell all improved their positions on pit road and soon were running fourth, fifth and sixth with Byron in the lead and Harvick and Chastain in front of them.

On lap 86, Bell made a deft pass of Blaney for fifth. Lap 93 brought a dramatic change at the front of the field, as Harvick surged to the outside of Byron in Turns 1 and 2 and cleared him down the backstretch. Byron dropped another spot to Chastain and traded third with Blaney, who secured the position on lap 107.

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“Once the track rubbered in, we got really tight,” Byron said. “Especially when we lost the lead on track, we just had a big balance shift and got tight back in second through fifth, just couldn’t gain a lot of speed through [Turns] 1 and 2, just kind of having to really over-slow the car, get it to the bottom.

“That’s all we had there.”

On lap 108, Bell’s race fell apart. Complaining of brake issues, he crashed hard into the outside wall in Turn 3 when his right front rotor exploded and was eliminated from the race in 36th place, leaving Blaney, Byron and Larson to battle for the championship.

“Well, I mean that was my first time I’ve ever exploded a rotor in my career,” Bell said after a mandatory trip to the infield care center. “So, yeah, I was surprised, but early on in the race I had a little bit of brake fade, and the second run it just kept getting worse and worse. I don’t know. Just obviously a disappointing way to end.

“It stings to not have a shot at the end of it, obviously. We were all four really close, and we all four showed strengths at different times.”

Bell’s accident caused the second caution and provided a welcome opportunity for pit stops and adjustments. After the subsequent restart on lap 117, Chastain passed Harvick for the lead and stayed out front for 54 consecutive laps until Buescher passed him for the top spot on lap 171.

Buescher pulled away to win the second stage, which ended on lap 185. Byron finished fourth and held the edge in the championship battle over Blaney in sixth and Larson in seventh.

As the laps counted down, however, the race came to Blaney.

Chastain led a race-high 157 laps to 95 for Byron. Harvick finished seventh after leading 23 laps in his final season as a full-time driver NASCAR Cup Series driver.

“We built a team here at Stewart-Haas Racing,” Harvick said. “We built so many things from the bottom up. I think the hard work is something that people recognize. As you guys have seen through the week, I’m a pretty emotional person. I’ve just done a really good job of hiding that.”

For his part, Chastain enjoyed competing against Harvick in his final race almost as much as he enjoyed winning.

“Racing him early in the race was bucket list, little kid in me,” said Chastain who won for the first time at Phoenix and the fourth time in his career. “Racing that 2005 (NASCAR) game, I drove as the No. 29 GM Goodwrench car (Harvick’s first Cup car with Richard Childress Racing). Now I’m driving a Chevy for GM to Victory Lane, a Camaro.

“I am beside myself that we were able to do that. That last caution we were really tight. It saved us. (Crew chief) Phil Surgen and this group at Trackhouse, all of our GM support staff, sim staff, everybody came up with a way to make this thing turn, and we drove off into the sunset.”

RESULTS

Chastain still in disbelief ‘Hail Melon’ worked at Martinsville

Ross Chastain spent some time Saturday with a damaged Trackhouse Racing car outside of Martinsville Speedway – a famous one – as he has been reliving the video game move he made at the track last fall that advanced him to the championship race and …

Ross Chastain spent some time Saturday with a damaged Trackhouse Racing car outside of Martinsville Speedway — a famous one — as he has been reliving the video game move he made at the track last fall that advanced him to the championship race and forced NASCAR to make a rule change.

“It’s over; can’t do it,” Chastain said. “This car will never be raced again. The piece of wall we got will never be ran into again. Just so many things about it are done.”

 

The car was on display at the Chevrolet exhibit in the fan midway. Chastain was eliminated from the postseason in the last round, so he will not need to make such a bold move Sunday. Not that he wants to do it again, or that anyone else in the field can try after NASCAR outlawed it during the offseason, citing safety concerns.

Last year, he drove straight into the Turn 3 wall and kept the car wide-open as he rode the wall to the finish line. It was a move that gained him five positions when he needed two points to advance in the Cup Series playoffs.

“I thought the wall was straight and actually when you turn into the corner if you look down the backstretch, it actually goes to the right just a little bit, a couple of inches,” Chastain said. “So when I made the first impact, I thought I was stopping the way it hit so hard. And I held on to the wheel for a little bit of time, the best I can remember and then I thought, ‘Just let go.’

“When I let go, my arms got pinned to the right…and at that point, I’m like, ‘Just don’t lift.’ All I focused on was making sure my foot didn’t come off the gas pedal and I felt like I was going faster than I ever went before.”

For as hard as Chastain hit the wall, how far he rode it, and how fast he was going, he and others were impressed with how well the No. 1 car held up. He had confidence in making the move because he had seen how well the Next Gen body had held up during crash damage all season.

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“I had hit the wall a few times last year and noticed that the body panels went right back out,” he said. “We saw that in testing with guys wrecking; I wrecked at the Roval, and I hit driver’s side on the frontstretch wall and I thought the car was demolished and we were going home. In an hour and a half they had suspension on it and we went back out and made more laps.

“Now, I still never thought that I could do that. That wasn’t part of the process, but we did see throughout the season that guys were hitting the wall and the body was bouncing back out. Obviously that was a big part — that the body didn’t cave in and cut the tires; they’re not metal bodies. The wheels slid against the wall in a lot of ways. The sidewall is moved in, and the wheel was like a roller blade against it. I think that’s a big reason why it didn’t slow down more a couple of miles an hour.”

Chastain said about watching the video a year later: disbelief.

“I don’t believe what I’m watching, still, when I see it,” he said. “To come and stand by the car, touch the car, know everything that went into last year to get us to Martinsville, and then to be out (of the playoffs) and then get back in to go fight for a championship – the move was one thing — what it meant and the ripple effect and the wave it set off for Trackhouse to go fight for a championship was bigger than anything — just what that means for so many of us inside those four walls and our plans for the future.

“Touching this car, leaning up against it right now, having a helmet for one race – I’ve never worn a helmet for one weekend and then been done with it… I’ve always used them over and over again. This one will just be used this weekend and then go on the shelf and be something I can actually put in my house because I can’t fit a car up, or piece of wall.”

Kelly Crandall

The car has lived at Trackhouse Racing and Chastain has seen it over the last year. At first, it was tucked away a bit in the shop but it’s recently been moved more toward the lobby and out in the open.

“It’s been in the shop, kind of tucked away for a while,” Chastain said. “We finally got the suspension and the wheels — the actual wheels — back on it. I guess most of the suspension stayed; it was just kind of hanging there. The right-front upper is broken and a lot of stuff is bent – the front and rear clip are bent, the best we can tell. But it’s been there, and then it finally got moved up to the front recently, up by the lobby. It’s been there; you see it.”

Martinsville Speedway cut out a piece of the Turn 4 wall earlier this year, bringing Chastain to the track to participate, but that’s still in Martinsville Speedway track president Clay Campbell’s possession.

“We haven’t taken ownership of that yet,” Chastain said. “We have to find a big enough space for it. That thing was massive. I don’t have any room for it right now in [North Carolina], and whether or not Justin gives us some space in the shop to put it, I’m not sure that’s in the plans either. I want them to be together, though, and I want it to be where people can see it, not locked away back at the farm. That’s not going to do any of us good.”

Revisiting Ross Chastian’s ‘Hail Melon’ at Martinsville one year ago

Ross Chastain made one of the most well-known moves in NASCAR history at Martinsville in 2022. Here, we revisit Chastain’s “Hail Melon.”

[autotag]Ross Chastain[/autotag] will enter Martinsville Speedway this weekend and think back to the fall race during the 2022 NASCAR season. It represented the place that gave him his first career Championship 4 appearance but most importantly, where he turned NASCAR into a mainstream talking point. This was fully due to Chastain’s “Hail Melon” on the final lap of the event.

Almost one year ago, the driver of the No. 1 car was unsure if he would make the Championship 4. Therefore, Chastain made a commitment that nobody could have seen coming on the final lap. The Trackhouse Racing driver put his throttle to the floor and rode the wall at an incredible speed through Turn 3 and 4. It was a once-in-a-lifetime move that secured him a spot at Phoenix Raceway the next week.

Following Chastain’s move, NASCAR decided to ban it from happening again. The 30-year-old driver’s decision altered the championship picture and forced NASCAR’s hand into making a new rule. There was nothing to break at the time and Chastain used it to his advantage, despite saying he would likely not do it again due to the violent nature inside the car.

There will be some people who question why NASCAR talks about Chastain’s wall ride this week but how can you not? He made NASCAR the main attraction compared to other sports and gave it a moment that was really needed. Chastain isn’t in contention for the title in 2023 and won’t perform the move again, but Martinsville will forever represent the place where his career turned upside down in a good way.

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Chastain leads eventful Cup Series practice in Las Vegas

Ross Chastain, a non-playoff driver, led the way in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while two others crashed due to tire issues. Chastain recorded the fast time of 186.858mph (38.899s) on his third lap. The …

Ross Chastain, a non-playoff driver, led the way in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while two others crashed due to tire issues.

Chastain recorded the fast time of 186.858mph (38.899s) on his third lap. The Trackhouse Racing driver ran a total of 16 laps in practice.

Chris Buescher was second fastest at 186.638mph, Tyler Reddick third at 185.957mph and Chase Elliott fourth at 185.459mph.

Elliott, however, then crashed in Turns 3 and 4 after his right rear tire went down. He hit the outside wall with the right rear and right front of his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which will force him into a backup car for Sunday’s race.

William Byron was fifth fastest at 185.401mph, Carson Hocevar sixth at 185.274mph, Martin Truex Jr. seventh at 185.192mph and Kyle Larson eighth at 185.160mph. Ty Gibbs was ninth at 184.837mph and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10 at 184.799mph.

There were three playoff drivers outside the top 10. Ryan Blaney was 12th (185.514mph), Christopher Bell 17th (183.943mph) and Denny Hamlin 30th (181.990mph).

The defending race winner, Joey Logano, was 13th with a 184.376mph lap.

Daniel Suarez was 26th fastest in practice. He crashed in the final minutes of the session, spinning off Turn 2 and hitting the tire pack on the inside wall on the backstretch. Suarez will also be in a backup car for Sunday.

In the best 10 consecutive lap average it was Kyle Larson over Byron, Reddick, Buescher and Elliott.

There are 36 drivers entered in the South Point 400.

Chastain makes an early exit at Talladega, playoffs in jeopardy

Ross Chastain wishes he could take back the try-to-shoot-the-gap move he made on Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. It wound up taking him out of the race at the end of the first stage. The Trackhouse car bounced off Kyle Busch and then …

Ross Chastain wishes he could take back the try-to-shoot-the-gap move he made on Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. It wound up taking him out of the race at the end of the first stage.

The Trackhouse car bounced off Kyle Busch and then spun in front of Christopher Bell in Turn 3 on lap 60. Chastain was trying to shoot past the slowing Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — stacked up in the far outside lane as Stenhouse ran out of fuel.

It was too small a hole for Chastain to make with two other drivers running side-by-side to his left. The No. 1 shot to the inside of Busch, hit Busch’s driver’s side, and then spun to the left in the path of Bell and the field.

 

“I saw [Stenhouse] slow and tagging the fence and obviously they were that much slower. I should have just stayed in behind them,” Chastain said. “[Going] four wide was obviously not the right call. I saw a hole and just tried to slide through there. Wish I wouldn’t have.”

The contact from hitting Bell caused significant right-front damage to Chastain’s Chevrolet. He will finish 38th, last, without any stage points in the YellaWood 500.

Bell’s team repaired the damage to the nose of his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and he rejoined the race.

Chastain entered the weekend 12 points above the NASCAR Cup Series playoff grid cutline. He is likely to fall below a transfer spot going into the Charlotte road course, the elimination race for the second round.

“No idea; I don’t look too far ahead,” Chastain said of potentially being in must-win mode next week. “We’ll see how it all shakes out the rest of the day.”

Ross Chastain’s outlook for the Round of 12 during 2023 NASCAR season

Evaluating Ross Chastain chances of advancing out of the Round of 12 as he pursues his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.

[autotag]Ross Chastain[/autotag] did not have a great start to the 2023 NASCAR playoffs with only one top-10 finish in the Round of 16; however, it was enough for Chastain to advance to the Round of 12. The driver of the No. 1 car finished in fifth place at Darlington Raceway, 13th place at Kansas Speedway, and 23rd place at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It was a rough end to the regular season for Chastain as he only has two top-10 finishes in the last 12 races since his win at Nashville Superspeedway. So, how does the Round of 12 stack up for Chastain as he tries to capture his first NASCAR Cup Series title? Let’s take a look at what tracks are coming up over the next three races.

Chastain will take his three-point deficit to the playoff cut-line and head to Texas Motor Speedway, which only has one date on the calendar. Last year, the Trackhouse Racing driver had a 13th-place finish but did see success in the first two stages of the event with 15 points. That should be looked at more closely than his finishing position; therefore, Chastain should be solid at Texas.

Moving onto the most unpredictable track of the Round of 12, Talladega Superspeedway represents a very good place for Chastain. It was the site of his second career Cup Series victory and he has two top-5 finishes in the last three races. Everything is unpredictable at Talladega but it has historically been a track that Chastain has run well at overall.

Finally, the Charlotte ROVAL is a track with not a lot of true data for Chastain. The driver of the No. 1 car won Stage 2 in 2022 but ended up finishing in 37th place after damage to his car. Most recently, Chastain hasn’t had a top-15 finish in the last three road course events. The Charlotte ROVAL is probably the most concerning track for Chastain overall.

The fate of Talladega will likely determine Chastain’s chances of advancing to the Round of 12. The three-point deficit should be overcome in Texas barring any issues but Chastain needs a buffer going into the Charlotte ROVAL. The performances on road courses haven’t been as strong during the 2023 NASCAR season and a must-win situation at the ROVAL would be dire.

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Ross Chastain explains his mindset going into the 2023 NASCAR playoffs

Ross Chastain explains if his mindset entering the 2023 NASCAR playoffs has changed after one Championship 4 appearance under his belt.

[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.”

“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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Lack of Cup stage breaks bringing unexpected physical challenges

Brad Keselowski went the entire race on the Indianapolis road course without touching his water bottle. Austin Cindric had to physically pull his arm back straight after climbing out of the car. Ross Chastain saw some of his fellow competitors in …

Brad Keselowski went the entire race on the Indianapolis road course without touching his water bottle. Austin Cindric had to physically pull his arm back straight after climbing out of the car. Ross Chastain saw some of his fellow competitors in much worse shape than he was on pit road after the checker.

NASCAR eliminated stage breaks during road course races this season in hopes of putting strategy back into the equation. It was a request of many within the industry who said road courses had become too predictable.

There is also the driver variable — without stage breaks, drivers lost two opportunities to catch their breath and reset. It’s the first time in seven years they’ve competed without breaks.

“Oh yeah, it’s a lot more challenging when you don’t have a break,” Keselowski said. “Your heart rate never gets the chance to drop. I went the whole race last weekend without drinking a sip of water because [I] couldn’t. There was no time to do it. It’s really easy to get dehydrated, and there’s fatigue that’s associated with that [which made it a] really grueling race. I expect something very similar [at Watkins Glen Sunday], and we’ll have to react and adapt accordingly.”

Indianapolis was the fourth road course race of six on the Cup Series schedule. There was only one natural caution during the race, which came on lap two. The race went 77 green flag laps until the end.

“Indy was definitely a different physical challenge, especially with how hot it was outside,” Cindric said. “For me, I get stuck inside the car. That’s my biggest physical challenge – I’m a big guy in a little car. My [left] arm never left the same position for how long that race was, so I had to get out of the car and pull my arm straight.

“Other than that, it’s what you train for, it’s what you’re supposed to be prepared for. I think we’ve had four very different road courses as far as stage breaks versus no stage breaks or whatever else. I think you’ll see a different result for that play at each track that we go to.”

A green flag run of 77 straight laps reaffirmed to Chastain the need to keep in a grind and keep pushing to be better physically and mentally. He also used the opportunity to have a race within a race last weekend.

“We didn’t have the speed to go run with the front group, but I also was better than a lot and I had 6s in front with a few laps to go and 6s behind,” he said. “I was just in my own little area, and it was a personal decision to try to catch that next group. I felt there was more speed in the car, and if I messed up, spun out, well, I’d probably only lose one or two spots and what the heck, let’s go for it. I caught up to them but wasn’t able to pass them.

“I felt good in the car, and getting out on pit road [I saw] that was not the case for everybody. There were some guys that were worn out. Proud of our processes that are making me stronger. I’m not the biggest guy, but I’m race fit, and I think there’s a lot to be said for that.”

Watkins Glen (Sunday, 3pm ET, USA) is the fifth of six road course races on the Cup Series schedule. Indianapolis and Watkins Glen are the only back-to-back ones on the schedule.

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Joey Logano still doesn’t have an opinion on having stage breaks versus not. As far as the physical toll on the driver, the two-time series champion hasn’t noticed a difference. What he specifically doesn’t like is when a caution comes out near the end of the stage, which extends the time under yellow.

“I’m kind of a fan of just a re-rack and let them go again, and you know what, if it puts the opportunity to run strategy and stay out and win a race versus guys flipping the stages, so be it,” Logano said. “That’s part of the race. Everyone says how it’s not authentic, it’s a manufactured caution. Well, everyone knows it’s going to be there. It’s still a race. We all know it’s going to be there, we can create a strategy around it.

“I didn’t understand why we did it in the first place; still don’t understand it, but it’s OK either way. I just drive the car.”

Ryan Blaney also doesn’t mind either way. A race with a stage break brings out the caution when the stage concludes with the top 10 drivers crossing the start/finish line, but without, it’s just a designated stage end lap with the field continuing to compete.

“I think a lot of people that watched the races didn’t like the stage breaks and then, when we did away with them, they didn’t like that it went green the whole time,” Blaney said. “It’s one of those things [where] you can’t please everyone. That was a tough race last week, honestly. It was hot running the whole race. That’s a tough racetrack, so [I] kind of bore down through it.

“You can have that, especially at that place where there’s a lot of runoffs and you can kind of spin and get going again. Here (at Watkins Glen), it’s a little bit tougher, I think, of having no cautions because there’s not as much run off. … I don’t really mind either way, but that was a long one last week.”

Sonoma is the race that stands out for Kyle Busch — where he felt the lack of cautions the most. On that day, June 11, there were two natural cautions on laps 51 and 93.

“Sonoma was a little long feeling but not too terrible,” Busch said. “Last weekend I only really ran half the race — my second half of the race was way off pace, so throw me out on that one. I heard Austin (Dillon) got a little bit smoked last week, though, so not sure if his [cool suit] didn’t work or what, but I think it’s fine. It’s OK.

“It lends itself to the strategy game. It lends itself to not being so hokey-pokey with guys running over each other, so I feel like there’s going to be pluses and minuses to it. But that’s the same to be said about oval racing as well…”

Circuit of The Americas on March 26 had eight natural cautions. The final four all came within the final 12 laps.

The inaugural Chicago street course on July 2 featured wet weather and single-file restarts. There were nine natural cautions.

“It’s just more physically demanding, for sure, and wrapping your head around it mentally took an adjustment,” Kyle Larson said. “I remember at COTA, I kind of forgot that we don’t have a caution and I’m racing really hard, and you’re getting your heart rate up and pushing to the end of that stage where typically you can relax. As soon as I crossed the start-finish line, I was like, ‘Oh [expletive] we still have to keep going?’ That was mentally tough trying to manage your race and your body. Indy was the same thing, but I was more ready to keep going. It was hot, but I enjoyed it. It’s more of a pure race.

“I know it’s probably super boring on TV with no cautions, but I think the strategy and the race playing out how it should is what racing is all about, especially road course racing. With the old way of how it was, it wasn’t ever fair. I felt like teams that ran around 20th or 30th could stay out and get stage points and take them from teams who were really fast. Now if your car is fast, you stay up front, you get the points you deserve and get a good finish.”