Ross Chastain surged into the lead as he closed in on the checkered flag Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to steal his second profession NASCAR Cup Sequence victory.
Chastain merely stayed in line over the ultimate few laps of the GEICO 500 as chief Erik Jones and reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson fought for the win. Larson made his try on the ultimate lap, and Jones moved for the defensive block.
Chastain simply pointed his Chevrolet straight, slipped previous the leaders and received for the second time in 5 races.
“Holy cow! We didn’t do something! We simply stayed down there!” Chastain screamed over his radio.
The eighth-generation watermelon farmer from Florida then climbed out of his profitable TrackHouse Racing automobile by means of the open roof flaps — like a sunroof — and smashed a watermelon from the roof of the Chevy in celebration.
“I’m at all times the one going to the highest early and making the error, and there on the finish it was like eight to go, and I used to be like, ‘I’m not going up there once more,’ ” Chastain stated. “I did that a few occasions at present. I used to be like: ‘I’ll simply trip on the underside. I’m not going to lose the race for us.’
“I don't know. They only stored going up. They only stored shifting out of the best way.”
Chastain then bit right into a hunk of watermelon however this time requested on Fox Sports activities whether or not any seeds had gotten caught in his beard. He did his whole stay tv interview after his win at Circuit of the Americas final month with a little bit of watermelon rind caught on his face.
Chastain and William Byron are the one a number of race winners by means of 10 Cup Sequence occasions — 1 / 4 of the season. He’s solidly locked into the playoffs with TrackHouse, a second-year crew owned by former driver Justin Marks and Pitbull.
Chastain, in his first season with TrackHouse, by no means imagined a lot success out of the gate.
“Are you kidding me? I’ve wrecked myself so many occasions and gotten into it with guys,” Chastain stated. “Justin Marks and what he laid out for us was formidable. I had no concept what to anticipate apart from I knew I had my group from final 12 months. [Sponsors are] believing in us. We began the 12 months with quite a lot of races open [for funding]. We’re nearly full now, and it’s due to the imaginative and prescient of Justin Marks.
“We received, dude!”
Austin Dillon completed second for Richard Childress Racing in a 1-2 sweep for Chevrolet, whereas Kyle Busch was third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Larson wound up fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, adopted by JGR driver Martin Truex Jr. after which lastly Jones, who fell all the best way to sixth making an attempt to save lots of the win.
“It’s typical right here. Been shut right here so many occasions,” Jones stated. “It simply felt good to be up entrance coming there in that final lap. We have been single file. I felt fairly good about it. Trying again, I want I might have stayed on the underside and let [Chastain] push me. I didn’t understand they have been coming with that a lot pace.
“Making an attempt to defend on [Larson], you’re too far forward already. And clearly the protection on [Larson] form of [opens] the door to [Chastain]. You’re simply making an attempt to win the race. You may solely see a lot that’s occurring from the seat and make the perfect determination you possibly can within the final 1,500 ft.”
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