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Flash back for a bit to 2022 and the first season of the NASCAR Cup Series with the then-new NextGen Car. At 28 years old, Ross Chastain was in his debut season with Trackhouse Racing, which itself was just two years old.
But it didn’t take long for Chastain to make a name for himself. He won the first NASCAR Cup Series race of his career at Circuit of the Americas, and quickly followed it up with another at Talladega.
Ultimately, Chastain went on to finish second in the points that season, making a bit of history along the way.
INTERVIEW With NASCAR Driver Ross Chastain
Four years later, Chastain is still seen as one of the series’ top drivers. He’s won races in each of the last three seasons, and has continued to make history all the while.
However, through the first quarter of the 2026 season, things haven’t gone according to plan for Chastain or Trackhouse. At 33 years old, he’s now the face of the team and by far the most experienced driver alongside teammates Shane Van Gisbergen and rookie prodigy Connor Zilisch.
But he sits just 20th in point standings, outside of the chase cut line, and is coming off a rough 26th-place finish at Kansas, a track where he won in 2024.
So what gives? And how is Chastain adapting to life in a leadership role with Trackhouse?
Ross Chastain Has His Nose To The Grindstone Looking For Answers
Chastain has never lacked for work ethic. The former watermelon farmer needed to scratch and claw to even get to this point. So it’s no surprise to hear he’s doing just that as the team searches for answers.
“There is no easy answer. There’s no smoking gun,” he said in an interview with BroBible earlier this week. “But we’re working every day to figure it out, and it’s going to make the good days even better when we get there.”
Perhaps this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, a track notorious for chaos and surprise winners, could provide Chastain the boost that he needs to get his season on track.
The team comes into the race with confidence, having won their in 2022 and rocking a new Jockey paint scheme that is clear to stand out from the pack.
“We brought this see-through guy, I’d guess you’d call it, to the sport, and it’s been imitated, that’s fine. But we’re proud to take it to the next step now,” Chastain said of the scheme.
Trackhouse Racing
Racing At Talladega Is A Delicate Balance
But for Chastain, he’s still trying to find the right balance of aggressiveness and patience while restrictor plate racing.
“I’ve got two voices on my shoulders here,” Chastain says of racing at Talladega. “Because I was brought up through the sport in several teams that we could not crash. It was ingrained into the drivers … So those voices ring on one side, and then on the other side I’ve got (team owner) Justin Marks saying ‘push the button, go. Go win.’ And Chevy’s saying ‘go win.'”
While there is a certain amount of racing at Talladega that falls out of his control, Chastain has been routinely successful at Talladega, leading laps in seven of his eight races at the track with Trackhouse.
“I have a very soft belief,” Chastain said of how much control he has over results on plate tracks. “I see some of my heroes being way luckier than others. And that’s not by accident, that’s intentional. And I try to put myself with them … So I try to make sure I’m around the cars I want to be around, and if I crash with them, I’m okay.”
Going From Young Driver To Team Leader
While Van Gisbergen is technically the oldest of the three Trackhouse drivers, he’s just in his second full-time season of NASCAR Cup Series racing after spending years in Australia’s Supercars Championship.
Meanwhile, Zilisch, at 19, is in his rookie season in the Cup Series. So the onus falls on Chastain to be the lead voice of the team among its drivers, and it’s something he’s still adapting to.
“It’s weird,” Chastain says with a laugh. “I’m 33 years old and considered the guy who’s been here the longest now, and I’m continuing to try to move the team in the right direction and make the cars faster.
“But it’s what I’ve worked for. I moved to North Carolina in 2012 and won my first Cup race in 2022. So that came through work, to go through all different kinds of teams, through different series, and get here to finally win.
“But now I want to keep that going and win more. Winning once a year, although right now we would take it, is not what we’re here for. We’re here to win more and compete more. I’m not exactly sure how we’re gonna get there, but you’ll see us up front again.”
Given his history in the sport, you’d be hard pressed to bet against Chastain living up to that promise.