NASCAR CUP SERIES CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES MAY 23, 2026 |
Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Camaro ZL1, No. 9 JR Motorsports Camaro SS and No. 45 Niece Motorsports Silverado RST, met with the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he’s running triple duty across all three NASCAR national series. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
NASCAR CUP SERIESCHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTESMAY 23, 2026 |
Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Camaro ZL1, No. 9 JR Motorsports Camaro SS and No. 45 Niece Motorsports Silverado RST, met with the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he’s running triple duty across all three NASCAR national series. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: I wanted to ask you about winning the Coca-Cola 600 last year. Obviously with that, there are fun celebrations that come along with that. You get a Coca-Cola machine. I know you had the opportunity to go to DC. Just give us a little bit of a reflection on a year later and what that win still means to you?“Yeah, I watched heroes of mine win that race. I thought I knew what it meant and I was uneducated. You see them do stuff; you see the videos and pictures of them. I did a lot of research after we won of like looking back at (Ryan) Blaney and (Christopher) Bell’s trips to Arlington and Pentagon visits; see what kind of clothes they wore and see what the lay of the land is. Once I was there, it was super impactful, more than I could have ever imagined. I think it comes from part of the group here at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the work they do. It’s not easy for them to get the amount of government buy-in on what we do and marking this event as something special. The track president, Greg, was not with us here at the track last year. I knew of Greg, but I didn’t know him personally, and then through all of the events last year, I didn’t get to do them with him like normal. His first thing back was Arlington. He had been telling his doctors and telling our team, like I’m going to be at Arlington for months, and then he was there. So to hear on our trip to Arlington the walk he’s had to come back healthy is unbelievable. So that was a really cool kind of bookend on it to do stuff with his team all last year, but then Arlington was with him. From them slapping ring on my finger in Victory Lane to capping it at Arlington and now being back here a year later; I have a whole new appreciation and I can only dream about what the other crown jewels will be like when we win them one day.” In what way will Kyle’s absence on the racetrack be felt as a competitor?“Yeah, I already saw it last night when we did our pace laps, seeing the No. 7 truck up there. I watched it roll out for practice when we thought we were going to get on track. That’s his truck. I just raced him last week at Dover, so it has his name on it. It’s still branded the same way it would have been, so I already have that experience. I can’t really talk about what it will be like on Sunday. I don’t normally think about things outside of like, are my tires prepped? Do I have the water temperature at the right temperature for the start of the race? Like am I doing all of my jobs inside of the vehicle? I glanced up and saw it, and probably for an entire lap, I just stared at the back of the No. 7 truck. I don’t normally think about anything else. I don’t know that I was really thinking about anything, I was just staring at it and still in disbelief.” Regarding the name you’re carrying on your car, are you looking into that more this year with the name you’re carrying for tomorrow night? Is it a bigger deal and maybe more motivation than just smashing a watermelon or telling people to wear their seatbelts? “Not to sound bad, but no, I can’t try any harder because there’s a special-ness to this weekend. Now having won it, of course I want to go back-to-back. I want to win this race the rest of my life and live that year over and over again for the rest of time. But no, I can’t try any harder. I can’t prep any more. Having the some of the McCain family here this weekend is going to be special. It’s always special, even the times we didn’t win. Of course we have high expectations, but only one family each year gets to go in Victory Lane with their car and their family member on the car, so it’ll be special for whoever it is. Hopefully it’s the McCain family for us.” Has it gotten you more connected to the veteran community?“I’ve gotten a lot of challenge coins since we won the Coca-Cola 600 and I don’t take that lightly.I’ve got a collection at home. I work with law enforcement a lot. I’m trying to be on the proactive side of helping them prevent people from, when they’re in crashes, of being unbelted, You see the work we do. I drive the Busch Light car, but if you’re going to drink, have a plan. Like I drink Busch Light, I have a plan every time I’m going to drink. It’s a non-negotiable and I want more people to make those right decisions. So, yeah, I get a lot of challenge coins from law enforcement and veterans, as well. I got two yesterday right outside the media center, so it’s very cool. I’m going to build out a display one day to have them in my shop. Right now, I just have an overflowing couple of jars and they’re all in there and it’s a safe spot.” Ross, obviously an emotional weekend on multiple fronts. How do you balance those or how do you put them out of your mind once the helmet goes on? “Go race. It felt good to get in the truck last night. Like I mentioned earlier, I definitely looked up at the No. 7 truck and for one of those whole pace laps, I was staring at it. But yeah, just go race. I know with Kyle, that’s what he would want to do. No questions about driving down there to the track. No questions in my mind about coming, going to work and going to race. It’s what we do.” You got to race against him as much as anybody in all three series. How did he make you and the competition better?“Seeing how fast these race cars can really go. In my time in Cup, we’ve had SMT. We’ve had live data that draws a squiggly line that when a driver turns the wheel, pushes the gas and brake, what gear they’re in, their speed, their RPM… like you can see it all and see a lot of things. He was one of the guys that I decided years ago to study. There’s a small group that I just naturally go to their car and they could be running good or bad, I want to see what they’re doing because I know what the body of work is going to be. The No. 8 car, and previously the No. 18, was the car I would click on over the years, even before I got in Cup. You click on his data and you’re going to know that’s as fast as the car could go.” |