After crashing in NASCAR Cup Series practice on Saturday, Trackhouse Racing had to thrash to put together a backup car for Ross Chastain, working into the early hours of Sunday morning to get the No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet race-ready.
Starting shotgun on the field, in 40th, Chastain was able to pay his crew back for all of their hard work, parking the No. 1 Chevrolet in Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the Coca-Cola 600.
The Alva, Florida-native spent the 600-mile gauntlet slowly and methodically working his way through the pack, and as the laps wound down, found himself in position to challenge for the victory.
With just six laps remaining in the second crown jewel event of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, Chastain made an optimistic lunge into Turn 1, sliding up the racetrack and barely getting clear of William Byron.
Byron, who undoubtedly had the car to beat all evening, made slight contact with the outside wall while losing the race lead, and was never able to recover enough to make a full-fledged charge at the No. 1.
The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, who won the DAYTONA 500 earlier in the season, would have to settle for a runner-up finish after leading a race-high 283 of 400 laps.
“Did I [think this was possible]? Yes,” Chastain said. “When I left the shop last night, I went over and sat in this car for the first time. It was about 10:00 when I left. They worked until 2:30.”
It’s the sixth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series for Ross Chastain, and the ninth at NASCAR’s top-level for Trackhouse Racing, which last won last Fall at Kansas Speedway.
“To drive on that final run in the World 600 and pass two cars that had been way better all night,” said Chastain. “Phil Surgen wanted me to pit two laps earlier. I went two laps longer just out of a bit of confusion. Man, that paid off at the end.”
After leading 283 laps, Byron had to settle for second place, finishing 0.673 seconds behind the eventual race-winner, after making a hard charge at the end of the race.
Polesitter Chase Briscoe came home in third place, his best finish since joining Joe Gibbs Racing at the start of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign.
AJ Allmendinger brought home an impressive fourth-place for Kaulig Racing, while rounding out the top-five was Brad Keselowski — who finally scored his first top-10 of 2025.
Chase Elliott was sixth, with Michael McDowell in seventh, scoring his first top-10 of the season, Christopher Bell eighth, Ryan Preece ninth, and Noah Gragson rounding out the top-10.
Denny Hamlin looked to be in a fantastic position to fight for a victory in the Coca-Cola 600, after trading the race lead back and forth with William Byron a whopping 15 times, but after a fueling issue on the final stop, the No. 11 was forced to come back down pit road.
Hamlin ended up with a disappointing 16th-place result.
Kyle Larson’s bummer of an attempt to run ‘The Double’ only got worse as he came to Charlotte. Despite leading 34 laps early in the race, the No. 5 brought out the first caution with a spin at Lap 43.
Things only ended up getting worse for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, who got collected in another wreck at Lap 247, which ultimately ended his evening.
Larson is the second driver to DNF both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, and the first to do so both times due to an on-track incident.
Should Kyle Larson fail to finish Sunday’s #CocaCola600 at Charlotte, he will become the second driver to run #TheDouble and DNF in both events.
Robby Gordon (1997) had one crash-related DNF, meaning Larson would be the first to crash out of both events.#NASCAR | #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/6JAAn7Y0aA
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) May 26, 2025
Leaving Charlotte, William Byron reclaims the NASCAR Cup Series points lead over Kyle Larson, who now sits 29 markers behind heading to Nashville Superspeedway.
The NASCAR Cup Series continues a long stretch to the end of the season with the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, taking place next Sunday, June 1 at 7:30 PM ET on Prime Video.
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