Ross Chastain started all the way back in 27th in Tuesday night’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Niece Motorsports’ No. 42 truck, but that didn’t matter much to the watermelon man.
With four laps remaining in Stage 1, Chastain powered around Austin Hill, who drives the No. 16 truck for Hattori Racing Enterprises, and set sail for the Stage 1 win.
Zane Smith ended the stage in third behind Chastain and Hill, while Matt Crafton was fifth.
Chase Elliott, who will collect a $100,000 bounty for charity if he can defeat Kyle Busch in this race, was sixth.
Todd Gilliland, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum and Brett Moffitt rounded out the top-10 finishers in Stage 1.
The other bounty hunters (John Hunter Nemechek and Brennan Poole) also finished ahead of Busch as they were 11th and 13th in the Stage.
Busch crossed the line in Stage 1 in 14th, but he has struggled with a truck that has had some issues with the front end sealing to the race track.
