2023 Season in Review: Ross Chastain

CREW CHIEF: Phil Surgen

TEAM: Trackhouse Racing

POINTS: Ninth in Cup Series

WINS: Two (Nashville, Phoenix II)

LAPS LED: 640

TOP 5s: 10

TOP 10s: 14

STARTS FROM POLE: One (Nashville)

WHAT WENT RIGHT: Chastain won his first Cup pole at Nashville. He led 99 laps of the race and won his way into the playoffs.

Chastain won the season finale at Phoenix. He became the first non-playoff driver to win the season finale in the elimination format era (2014-present).

Chastain’s runner-up finishes at Dover and Texas were career-best marks at the respective tracks. He had no previous top-10 finishes at Texas in Cup.

WHAT WENT WRONG: Chastain’s team lacked consistency. He only had one top-10 finish in the nine races following his win at Nashville. Chastain finished 22nd or worse in four of these races.

Chastain had issues on pit road during playoff races at Darlington, Kansas and Texas. He crashed during the playoff race at Talladega after contact with Kyle Busch. These issues contributed to him failing to advance to the Round of 8.

Chastain’s average starting position fell to 15.6 after it was 14.4 in 2022. He only started inside the top 10 in 14 of the 36 races.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2024: Trackhouse Racing has shown that it can bring fast cars to the track over the past three seasons. Chastain, in particular, has 25 top-10 finishes and four wins in his two seasons with the team. The expectation is that Chastain will be in the mix for wins once again in 2024. The biggest unknown is whether it will be on a consistent basis.