Ross Chastain may have missed out on the NASCAR Cup playoffs, but earned some consolation with his first victory of the 2024 season at Kansas by holding off William Byron.
The Trackhouse Chevrolet driver's fifth victory of his Cup career, all with the #1 on his door, makes him the most successful Cup driver in the number's history.
In ending a dry spell dating back to the final race of last season, he became the 17th different race winner in the Cup Series this year.
"It's a huge deal," said Chastain while taking a bite out of a freshly smashed watermelon. "For us on this #1 team, this is what Cup racing is all about.
"It's what Justin Marks bought into Trackhouse with Pitbull - to do stuff like this. To disrupt.
"There's been times this year when we couldn't have disrupted [a] minnow pond outside of Darlington, let alone a Cup race."
Behind Byron's Hendrick Chevrolet which won the opening Stage, Martin Truex Jr. (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) finished third ahead of Ryan Blaney (Penske Ford) and Ty Gibbs (JGR).
Byron's team-mate Alex Bowman beat JGR team-mates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin into sixth, while Chase Elliott (Hendrick), and Zane Smith (Spire Chevrolet) rounded out the top 10.
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, Kubota Chevrolet Camaro
Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
A caution near the end of Stage 2 jumbled the running order around, as several cars chose to pit early while many playoff drivers stayed out to earn some extra stage points - with Bowman ending up on top. Once they had pitted, a new group of drivers emerged out front for the start of the final stage.
Carson Hocevar (Spire) led briefly, until Chastain charged from fifth to first, but Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Chevrolet) eventually clawed the lead away after an intense battle and held the advantage through the final round of green-flag pit stops.
Busch was trying to extend his streak of consecutive years with a Cup win to 20 but, while fending off Chastain, tagged the wall at the exit of Turn 2 trying to lap the Stewart Haas Ford of playoff contender Chase Briscoe and spun out. He eventually finished 19th.
Seeking his first win of the year, Truex managed to snatch the lead on pit road as Brad Keselowski stayed out, but the RFK Ford driver quickly faded as another wreck broke out in the middle of the pack.
The final restart came with 20 laps remaining. Chastain powered around Truex on the restart and never looked back, taking the checkered flag 0.388s clear of Byron.
The playoff picture is tight entering next week's race at Talladega, the second of three in the Round of 12 which concludes at the Charlotte roval.
Kyle Larson (Hendrick) cut a tyre and crashed early, struggling home to a 26th place finish. He remains fourth in the standings, but only 18 points above the cut-line. Joey Logano (Penske) is on the bubble, four points above Tyler Reddick (23XI Toyota). Chastain's team-mate Daniel Suarez is 14 points out, Briscoe 25 points out, and Austin Cindric (Penske) 29 points out.
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Source: Autosport