Chastain Disrupts Playoff Picture with Thrilling Kansas Victory, Holds Off Byron in Nail-Biting Finish

Ross Chastain secured his first victory of the season and the fifth of his career in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Chevrolet came alive in the second half of the race, allowing him to grab the lead from Martin Truex Jr. after the final restart on Lap 248 and hold off a charging William Byron by 0.388 seconds.

Despite failing to qualify for the playoffs this year, Chastain was thrilled with his performance. “For us on this 1 team, it’s what Cup racing is all about,” he said. “It’s what Justin Marks bought into Trackhouse with Pitbull, bought into NASCAR with Trackhouse to do stuff like this — to disrupt.”

Chastain admitted that there were times when he doubted his team’s ability to compete at the highest level. “Look, there’s been times this year where we couldn’t have disrupted the minnow pond outside of Darlington, let alone a Cup race. It’s hard. It’s really tough. To come and do this, there are times where I didn’t think after practicing and qualifying we had what it took. I thought we have been way stronger here in the past. It didn’t feel great all day, but our Kubota Chevy, it was better as the rubber went down, and the adjustments were great.”

Byron, who led 24 laps, finished second and expressed his disappointment at missing out on the win. “Yeah, just clean air,” he said. “I feel like he got the restart he needed to, and I was in the second row just trying to clear those guys. Once I got clear of them, my balance was OK. Just a little bit tight, but just kind of inching up on him. I needed probably, you know, for it to be a longer run being in second. Damn it, I wanted that one really bad. It just sucks, man. You’re so close, and you know going to Talladega you know what that is. So just sucks, but proud of the effort.”

The race featured several playoff drivers facing challenges, with Kyle Larson, the top seed entering the Round of 12, experiencing a setback reminiscent of his early exit at Atlanta. Larson cut a right-rear tire and hit the wall on Lap 19, falling one lap down and finishing Stage 1 in 35th place. He managed to recover somewhat, finishing 26th and leaving Kansas fourth in the standings, 18 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 8.

Other playoff drivers, including Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suárez, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Cindric, faced difficulties throughout the race, impacting their positions in the standings heading into the next round.

The race also saw Kyle Busch’s bid for his first victory of the season come to an end when he spun off Turn 2 while attempting to put Chase Briscoe a lap down. “I’m sure he was racing to stay on the lead lap with whoever was in front of him there,” Busch said. “Granted, they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 (laps) to go or whatever it was, lapped traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places, and I spun out.”

The Cup Series will continue the Round of 12 at Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday.