“It really cost me when there was a really long run at the end,” Ross Chastain reveals what went wrong for him at Richmond last time around as he chases glory once again at the track
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Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain has been one of the most impressive and talked-about drivers in the 2022 season as he made an incredible start to his Trackhouse Racing debut with two cup race wins so far. The “watermelon man” has been getting himself in a bunch f unwanted situations over the last few weekends as he faced retaliation from some drivers he crashed in past, such as the likes of Denny Hamlin of JGR.
The bumpy ride has been hindering the progress of Ross Chastain and has severely affected his regular season championship[p chances against Chase Elliott who has also been struggling after his incredible display of top-form racing since the mid-season break. A win can surely set everything back to normal for the Chastain if he wants to have a strong challenge for the cup championship in the postseason.
For the second time this season, NASCAR Cup Series teams will take the track at Richmond Raceway, and while the last race there saw one of the season’s worst racing performances, fans are anticipating fierce racing this time. There are just three races remaining in the regular season, and the final two are on road courses, so it will be critical for some teams to achieve the crucial victory if they want to advance to the postseason, and for Chastain its high time to get a top finish ahead of the playoffs.
Find out what Ross Chastain had to say about his cup outing
Ross Chastain acknowledged that he wasn’t really surprised by what happened to him last time at Richmond as he has been around long enough at the track to understand the importance of tire management. He pointed out a story during his Xfinity days back in 2016 where he was instructed by his spotter on how to run the race with tire efficiency that got them a good finish at the end.
“I wasn’t really surprised. From what I’ve seen since I’ve been around Richmond is that it has been a high fall off track. In the Xfinity Series, my spotter Lorin Rainer 2016, told me going into the weekend that if I would just listen to him, I would run well. We had an 80-lap run to the finish and with 20 to go we went from 20th to seventh in Johnny Davis’ car,” Ross Chastain said.
The No:1 Camaro ZL1 driver went on to say that he had a similar experience this spring at Richmond where he couldn’t save the tire long enough to make an impact which cause him to drop from P3 to P19 n the final run. Ross Chastain pointed out that the lack of preparedness and getting in speed early cost him a good finish at the track.
“It was because we saved our rear tires. It’s the same thing this year, I burned off my front tires because we had such short runs in the spring for most of the race, and then all of the sudden we had a long run at the end and I wasn’t prepared as a driver for that. I put my front tires past the limit and made speed early but it really cost me when there was a really long run at the end,” Ross Chastain added.
A win or getting back-to-front raw finishes will be vital for Chastain going into the playoffs as he has been finishing outside the top 20 for the last three cup races. The Richmond track will be a good opportunity to do so as it shares a lot of similarities with Phoenix Raceway which is part of the ten-race playoff tracks.
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Justin P Joy
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