The last lap of the Nascar Cup Series at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) culminated in an epic battle between three Next Gen Camaro ZL1s for the win. Ultimately, Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Camaro, avoided incident and captured his first victory at the Cup Series level on Sunday, March 27th.
Chastain and the No. 1 Chevy racing team bested Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Camaro and AJ Allmendinger in the No. 16 Camaro as they dove through COTA’s 20 turns. While Chastain showed the way for much of the race in his No. 1 Camaro, he found himself under fire from Allmendinger’s No. 16 and Bowman’s No. 48.
Allmendinger passed Chastain, but the two made contact as Bowman charged into first. The No. 16 Camaro of Allmendinger shot to the right, collecting Bowman’s No. 48 machine and forcing both Chevys into the sand trap. Chastain easily made the pass and brought the No. 1 Camaro to victory lane, scoring not only his first Cup Series win, but nabbing the first-ever checkered flag for his team, Trackhouse Racing.
“It’s insane to go up against some of the best and I know he’s [Allmendinger] going to be upset with me, but we race hard, both of us,” said Chastain. “But when it comes to this Cup win, I can’t let that go down without a fight.”
Bowman managed to finish second in the No. 48 Camaro, followed by Christopher Bell in the No. 20 Toyota TRD Camry in third. 2021 COTA winner Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Camaro, held down fourth, while Tyler Reddick in the No. 8 Camaro rounded out the top five. Polesitter Ryan Blaney finished sixth in the No. 12 Ford Mustang.
Allmendinger’s No. 16 Camaro was scored 33rd after the last-lap incident.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 1 | Ross Chastain | ONX Homes/iFly Chevrolet | 69 | 31 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 5 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 7 | 20 | Christopher Bell | DeWalt Toyota | 69 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 12 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Llumar Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 5 | 4 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | 3CHI Chevrolet | 69 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 6 | 1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford | 69 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 7 | 17 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 69 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 8 | 10 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Discount Tire Ford | 69 | 11 | Ford Mustang |
| 9 | 30 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 10 | 21 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bennett Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 11 | 18 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | GEARWRENCH Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 12 | 24 | 24 | William Byron | RaptorTough.com Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 13 | 27 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 26 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Wyndham Rewards Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 9 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 29 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | Boot Barn Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 19 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Freightliner Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 18 | 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Ground Toyota | 69 | 3 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 19 | 25 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Rush/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 20 | 33 | 42 | Ty Dillon | chevyliners.com Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 21 | 22 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fifth Third Bank Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 34 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 3 | 41 | Cole Custer | One Cure Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 2 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | CommScope Chevrolet | 69 | 15 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 31 | 50 | * Kaz Grala(i) | Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 26 | 37 | 66 | * Boris Said | Bumper.com Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 35 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 69 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Skittles Lime is Back Toyota | 69 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 29 | 13 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 69 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 30 | 14 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 69 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 31 | 6 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 69 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 11 | 45 | Kurt Busch | Monster Energy Toyota | 69 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 33 | 20 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Action Industries Chevrolet | 68 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 36 | 27 | * Loris Hezemans(i) | Hezeberg Systems Ford | 62 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 35 | 38 | 15 | Joey Hand | Ford Pass Rewards Visa Ford | 60 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 36 | 32 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Schluter Systems Chevrolet | 57 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 37 | 28 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | SunnyD Chevrolet | 52 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 38 | 23 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | leidos Toyota | 44 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 39 | 39 | 78 | Andy Lally(i) | MaintenanceSupplies.com Ford | 19 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
- # – Rookie
- i – Points ineligible
- * – Part-time driver
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Comments
Great road course race, and a very exciting last lap. Nice to see the new Camaros up front, of course. It will be a great loss to NASCAR if GM stops producing them.
Nice to see something besides those 1.5 mile paint drying events. Great job Ross!
The old, ‘Rubbin’ is Racin’ idiom.