NASCAR News: Chastain out duels Byron to win Coca-Cola 600

Ross Chastain came all the way from the back of the field to overtake William Byron in the final stage to win the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Chastain, who wrecked his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet in practice on Saturday and had to go to a backup car, spoiled Byron’s dominant performance by making the winning pass with six laps to go.

It was Chastain’s first win of the season and the continuation of a resurgence that saw him finish in the top 10 in four of the previous six races. For Chastain, it was the sixth Cup Series victory in his career and his first at Charlotte. Byron, who swept the first three stages, finished second.

Polestitter Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski completed the top five finishers.

Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson rounded out the top 10.

Kyle Larson ran out of talent in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 – crashing out of both races.

Ross Chastain

I got to tell you, Ross, when you started 40th today, did you think that this was even possible?

ROSS CHASTAIN: Marty, I’m going to soak this in.

You should.

ROSS CHASTAIN: Did I? Yes. When I left the shop last night, I went over and sat in this car for the first time. It was about 10 o’clock when I left. They worked until 2:30. They were back at 5:30 this morning. Most of them drive 30, 45 minutes home. A little shower, I think. I don’t even know if they slept. Back there at 5:30. They get this thing ready, and that’s the dedication it takes from Trackhouse.

There was people there that had their Saturdays off yesterday, and they came in. For this Jockey Chevy and the McCrea family, to carry them — he was riding with me, Mr. McCrea. His family is here with Allie and mom and sister, brother. That’s what this weekend is all about is to think about and remember the ones that sacrificed so much for us.

Al Niece, my truck team owner, Marine veteran, so happy to drive for him. Thought we were going to get one on Friday night.

For tonight Trackhouse, Team Chevy, Bush Light, the Moose, Acceptance Insurance, Wendy’s. I’ve got to look. It’s been so long I feel like.

The McCrea family told me to be a sponge. That was something that their dad told them a lot. I got to tell you, I didn’t feel much like a sponge tonight. I was rattling around out there.

To drive on that final run in the World 600 and pass two cars that had been way better all night. Phil Surgen wanted me to pit two laps earlier. I went two laps longer just out of a little bit of confusion. Man, that paid off at the end. These Goodyear Eagles held on longer because they were a little bit fresher.

Holy cow, we just won the world 600!

Walk me through the highs and lows of the weekend, Ross, because you were in the turn three and four wall in the middle of practice and then somehow you wind up in victory lane. How did you, first of all, get through that moment Saturday and then pull off the final pass on William Byron tonight?

ROSS CHASTAIN: Well, how did I do that? My team built me another car. For about an hour and a half we thought we were going to have to fix the primary. That would have been fine. Then NASCAR said, No, there’s something bent, too much, so go build another one, and we did. That’s how we did that.

How we drove through the field tonight was just stayed in it. I didn’t get too happy when I was passing cars. I didn’t get too sad when we caught that first green flag cycle on the wrong side of it.

With the goal of eating one of these Enza Zaden Florida watermelons, this thing is fresh from Florida. It just came up from our family farm this week — last week I guess we came up. Man, for the Florida watermelon industry, that’s your watermelons you’re getting right now, so y’all better go buy a dang watermelon to celebrate.

I want to see videos of smashed watermelons flood the socials. I want to see it. Florida watermelons are in season, but I passed them because my team built me a car and they were there all night.

NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 Results