Despite a horrendous beginning, 2019 was an incredible season for Ross Chastain.
“I want to throw up right now, to be honest with you,” Chastain said after Friday night’s Championship race. “But it has been an absolute dream.”
When the year first began, Chastain was the gut-wrenching story of the off-season as his dream ride with Chip Ganassi Racing in the Xfinity Series evaporated when his sponsor DC Solar was raided by the FBI. However, as he rolled into Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Chastain somehow clawed his way into battling for a NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship with his rag-tag Niece Motorsports team.
“My career changed last summer, and it has just kept stepping up,” Chastain said. “Getting top-two with Niece Motorsports is another step. Obviously, we’re racers. That’s what makes this group so good together…
“Just a bunch of misfit racers.”
Ultimately, Chastain, who spent his time leading up to Friday’s race in a 1970’s Winnebago, came up just short of his goal of securing his first-career NASCAR National Series championship on Friday night, but after leading all but two laps in Stage 1 of the race, and finishing second-best of the Championship contenders, Chastain kept his head held high after a fourth-place finish.
“Just proud of what Niece Motorsports did, above and beyond everything else,” explained Chastain. “And the sun will come up tomorrow, man. It’s going to be fine. Everything is going to be good. It’s going to sting for a little while, but at the end of the day life will go on. I’m living my dream out here.”
Chastain ends the season with three wins, 10 top-fives and 19 top-10s throughout the 23-race Truck Series season.
Now, Chastain will transition to a full-time schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next year driving Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro.
