Back to News

February 16, 2023

Trackhouse Racing, Ross Chastain reach multiyear deal


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ross Chastain has spent his career scratching and clawing for long-term stability at the highest level of NASCAR racing.

He found exactly that.

Trackhouse Racing announced a multiyear extension for Chastain in the Daytona International Speedway media center on Thursday, ensuring he will pilot the No. 1 Chevrolet for many seasons to come.

“We don’t discuss the terms of the agreement,” team president Ty Norris said, “but his beard will be gray.”

RELATED: Ross Chastain 2022 season in review | See Chastain’s full stats

Chastain, runner-up in the hunt for the NASCAR Cup Series championship just three months ago, was visibly emotional as the contract extension was announced, preceded by a Trackhouse video played in the room with numerous family members who made the 200-mile trek from Alva, Florida, in attendance.

“It’s incredible to find a home here at Trackhouse,” Chastain said. “I always laugh that it’s Track-‘house’ and we’ve truly made it a home.”

The 30-year-old eighth-generation watermelon farmer capped a jaw-dropping year with his tremendous Martinsville wall ride that propelled him to a second-place finish in the final playoff standings. Consider that Trackhouse came to fruition two years ago, the brainchild of Justin Marks who then purchased the charters and buildings of Chip Ganassi Racing in mid-2021 to build and ensure a second Trackhouse Racing team.

With that came the eventual signing of Chastain, who had been driving the No. 42 Chevrolet for the suddenly-disappearing CGR.

What Chastain brought statistically was phenomenal – his first two career wins (including the first for Trackhouse), 15 top fives and 21 top 10s in a 36-race season.

But Marks is more impressed with what Chastain has brought to Trackhouse’s culture, a critical component of Marks’ vision for his team.

“His work ethic, his never-give-up attitude, the fact that he drives every lap with everything that he’s got all the passion that he’s got,” Marks said. “I mean, when you put in long hours and you work hard on a race car – and whether you’re an engine builder or a mechanic or an engineer, fabricator, whatever it is – when the one person has to get in that car, you want that person out there pushing as hard as they possibly can, honoring your work and your commitment to the company by going and trying to do something with it.

“And that resonates incredibly deeply with the company – both of our [drivers] – because anybody in our company can, whether they’re at the race track watching the two cars or they’re home watching on TV, they know that they’ve got two drivers that are pushing and everything they’ve got. What more could you want in a workplace?”

Chastain’s aggression ruffled feathers at the front of the field in 2022, most notably with veteran Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. Don’t expect that level of determination to diminish just because Chastain now has a long-term contract – but the second-year Trackhouse racer noted he constantly evaluates his progress behind the wheel.

“My driving will never stop evolving,” he said. “I think the day that I think that I’ve internally or mentally have it all figured out will probably be the day I announce my inevitable retirement. I just can’t imagine a world where I pull on the racetrack and I know everything. I’ve never ran a perfect lap. And that’s why I continue to put myself in as many racing opportunities as I can.”

Those opportunities include making Xfinity Series starts for DGM Racing and Craftsman Truck Series starts with Niece Motorsports.

When Chastain’s career seemed to reached an abrupt halt with Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of the 2019 Xfinity Series season – courtesy of a sudden sponsorship debacle – Chastain surged to success in the Truck Series with Niece Motorsports owner Al Niece, scoring three victories and advancing to the Championship 4.

“Al is my people,” Chastain said. “We work like family and a big reason of why my career, when it went into his largest valley, came right back up the following season going and winning races and ultimately, was one of the fundamental dominoes that fell to get me back to the Cup Series. And I see so many similarities in Niece and Justin.”

Chastain now has long-term stability heading into his fifth full-time season as a NASCAR Cup Series driver.

The 65th annual Daytona 500 gets underway at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MUST WATCH