Ross Chastain has a habit of spoiling Playoff races. His No. 1 NASCAR Chevy team didn’t make the cut to compete in this year’s championship, but that didn’t discourage him on September 29th, 2024 at Kansas Speedway. He fended off fellow Bow Tie driver William Byron to win in the closing laps on Sunday and broke a nearly 12-month winless streak while he was at it.
Chastain snagged the lead after restarting alongside Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry, on the final restart on Lap 248. Byron wheeled his No. 24 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 right in Ross Chastain’s tire tracks, attempting to track him down as the white flag flew, but he could only get within 0.388 seconds of the No. 1 Camaro when the checkers dropped.
“For us on this 1 team, it’s what Cup racing is all about” said Ross Chastain after the race – and after his iconic watermelon-smashing victory celebration. “It’s what [team co-owner] Justin Marks bought into Trackhouse with Pitbull, bought into NASCAR with Trackhouse to do stuff like this – to disrupt.”
He added, “Look, there’s been times this year where we couldn’t have disrupted the minnow pond outside of Darlington, let alone a Cup race. It’s hard. It’s really tough. To come and do this, there are times where I didn’t think after practicing and qualifying we had what it took. I thought we have been way stronger here in the past. It didn’t feel great all day, but our Kubota Chevy, it was better as the rubber went down, and the adjustments were great.”
“Damn it, I wanted that one really bad. It just sucks, man,” Byron said. “You’re so close, and you know going to Talladega you know what that is. So just sucks, but proud of the effort.”
Kyle Busch looked to be in a good position to break his own streak of bad luck when his No. 8 NASCAR Chevy suddenly got loose while racing Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, who was fighting to stay on the lead lap. Busch’s No. 8 Camaro snapped around, taking him out of contention for the lead and relegating him to a 19th-place finish.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 NASCAR Chevy Camaro, had a rough go at Kansas. He cut a tire and clobbered the wall on Lap 19 and spent the rest of the race correcting damage to his race car, finishing 26th.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Kubota Chevrolet | 267 | 52 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
2 | 6 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Valvoline Chevrolet | 267 | 24 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
3 | 19 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 267 | 5 | Toyota TRD Camry |
4 | 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Wurth Ford | 267 | 3 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
5 | 2 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 267 | 5 | Toyota TRD Camry |
6 | 12 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | Ally Chevrolet | 267 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
7 | 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Rheem Toyota | 267 | 122 | Toyota TRD Camry |
8 | 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | FedEx Toyota | 267 | 1 | Toyota TRD Camry |
9 | 38 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | UniFirst Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
10 | 15 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Focused Health Chevrolet | 267 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
11 | 25 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
12 | 22 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
13 | 10 | 99 | Daniel Suarez (P) | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
14 | 5 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 267 | 3 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
15 | 27 | 51 | Corey LaJoie | Children's Mercy Hospital Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
16 | 37 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
17 | 13 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
18 | 24 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Bed Bath & Beyond Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
19 | 3 | 8 | Kyle Busch | BetMGM Chevrolet | 267 | 26 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
20 | 30 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
21 | 32 | 16 | Ty Dillon(i) | FitRx Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
22 | 26 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Solomon Plumbing Ford | 267 | 4 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
23 | 28 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Menards/Dutch Boy Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
24 | 9 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
25 | 4 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (P) | DraftKings Toyota | 267 | 7 | Toyota TRD Camry |
26 | 11 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
27 | 33 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Rasmussen Air & Gas Energy Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
28 | 18 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Dillons/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
29 | 21 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Horizon Hobby Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
30 | 31 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
31 | 34 | 15 | Kaz Grala # | Remixers.com/Xemex Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
32 | 14 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Premier Security Chevrolet | 267 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
33 | 23 | 7 | Justin Haley | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
34 | 17 | 2 | Austin Cindric (P) | Menards/Moen Ford | 263 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
35 | 16 | 43 | Erik Jones | AdventHealth Toyota | 263 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
36 | 35 | 84 | * Jimmie Johnson | Family Dollar/Dollar Tree Toyota | 257 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
37 | 36 | 44 | * JJ Yeley(i) | Urban Racing School Chevrolet | 118 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
38 | 29 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Bed Bath & Beyond Ford | 0 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible
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