After spending the first half of the season being criticized for being over-aggressive, Ross Chastain has finally been able to silence the doubters, scoring the victory in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Snapping a 43-race winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chastain got to perform his signature victory celebration, smashing a watermelon on the track, after scoring the pole position and leading a race-high 99 laps.
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 Race Results
And although the victory was Chastain’s third in the NASCAR Cup Series, the raw emotion and pure elation from the Alva, Florida-native made it seem like it was his first.
“That’s just desire to win,” Chastain said. “I got to tell you, it’s just so hard at this level. It’s the best of the best. It’s where I’ve wanted to be since I was 18 years old, from studying for over 10 years just to qualify better let alone go race for a Cup race win.”
“Yeah, look, it’s a Cup win. I don’t care what happened last month, the rest of my life, it’s a freaking Cup win.”
The 30-year-old driver had to make a masterful defense against Martin Truex, Jr. to score the victory, holding off the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion over the final 60 laps of the event, holding the victory by 0.789 seconds.
Truex, Jr., who was looking for his third victory of the season, ran inside the top five for the majority of the evening, but was unable to close the deal, surrendered in the race’s late stages to Chastain, who appeared to have a superior car on the long run.
Denny Hamlin, who led 81 laps in the earlier portions of Sunday’s event, finished the event in third place, while Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson completed the top five in the finishing order.
William Byron came home in sixth, after running in or around the top five for the majority of the evening. Christopher Bell scored a seventh-place finish, in an attempt to recover from rough stretch of races.
Erik Jones picked up his first non-superspeedway top-10 of the season in eighth place, while Kyle Busch and AJ Allmendinger completed the top-10 finishers of what was a very fast-paced race at Nashville.
Ryan Blaney, who came into Sunday’s event third in point standings, finished in last place after a major wreck in the middle portion of the event, which saw the No. 12 Ford Mustang slam into the inside wall, in an area not protected by a SAFER barrier.
After the race, NASCAR released the following statement: “NASCAR safety engineers work closely with safety experts on the implementation of barriers around the track. As we do following every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make any necessary improvements.”
Leaving Nashville, the NASCAR Cup Series is heading to Chicago for the inaugural Chicago Street Race – noted as the Grant Park 220. Martin Truex, Jr. continues to hold the lead in the regular-season point standings, over William Byron by 18 points.
Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Busch completed the top five in points. Meanwhile, at the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff bubble, Daniel Suarez holds a two-point advantage over Alex Bowman.
