Ross Chastain

Ross Chastain to drive No. 6 Ford for Ryan Newman at Las Vegas

NASCAR.com February 19, 2020 at 3:50 PM

Ross Chastain has been named the substitute driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the team announced Wednesday.

Roush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after a wreck at the finish of Monday’s Daytona 500. He was released from the hospital on Wednesday — the team’s official Twitter account posted a photo of Newman leaving with his two daughters.

Currently there is no timetable for Newman’s return. Additional updates will be provided as they become available.

“First and foremost, our focus remains with Ryan and his family as he continues to recover,” Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark said in a press release. “We also want to express our sincere gratitude to all of those who have offered support and taken the time to send their thoughts and prayers to Ryan, his family and everyone at Roush Fenway Racing.

“The NASCAR community has long prided itself on being a close-knit family. That is never more evident than during these types of moments, and we want to express our appreciation to everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing as well as Kaulig Racing for allowing Ross to fill in for Ryan in the No. 6 on such short notice.”

Chastain took to Twitter shortly after the news was announced to say he would do his best to make Newman and the team proud as the fill-in driver this weekend.

Chastain has 72 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series with one top-10 finish. He has five total wins at the NASCAR national series level and was part of the Championship 4 field in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2019. His first career national series win came in 2018 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Chastain is the full-time driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series for the 2020 season.

The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the second race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

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