With new duds, new sponsor, Chastain reaches cardboard-cutout fame: ‘It’s wild’

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Even two race weekends into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, it's still been a bit jarring to see Ross Chastain wearing the Busch Light colors most closely associated with Kevin Harvick the last eight seasons. But there he's been, both at the Clash in Los Angeles and in preparation for the Daytona 500, with a light-blue and white fire suit bearing the logo of his Trackhouse Racing team's new sponsor. More striking, from Chastain's perspective, has been seeing life-sized mirror images of himself in his new duds, in cardboard-cutout form alongside supermarket and convenience store displays of his sponsor's product. "It's wild," Chastain says. "Honestly, the thoughts get more wild when people send me pictures and I see them online, I get tagged and stuff and we're looking through that. It's just, it's wild to think that from my uncle in South Florida, to a farmer in Delaware, and now out west that they're seeing the stuff go in the stores. It's just, it's indescribable. Really, it's hard to put into words." Chastain will carry those new colors into his sixth appearance in the Daytona 500 (Monday, 4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), aiming for his first victory in the "Great American Race." The 31-year-old driver has three top 10s in the season-opening event, including a ninth-place result in last year's running. RELATED: Daytona weekend schedule | Starting lineup Lately, there's been a lot of Chastain to go around, from his featured role in the "NASCAR: Full Speed" docu-series on Netflix to his newfound appearance in promotional beer displays. Turns out, it's not the first time that his image has been reproduced in cardboard form. Chastain said that 12 years ago, he paid for 10 of them to give to existing and prospective sponsors as he aimed to break into NASCAR's national series. In some, he held a helmet under his right arm. A watermelon -- in a nod to his farming roots -- was photoshopped in the helmet's place. "Back when I was just hustling, trying to kind of raise money, that was the name of the game," Chastain said. "That's what was going to get me on track." Now established as he starts his sixth Cup Series season, Chastain no longer has to grind and scrape for a ride -- as the cardboard cutouts he no longer has to pay for will attest. He's made it and can now allow his mind to think about what it might mean to win the Daytona 500 in his home state as the only Florida native in the field. There, he struggles to find words again. RELATED: First look: Ross Chastain's Busch Light Chevrolet "Why not us? I have to think that. Why can’t we win? There are no reasons why we can’t," Chastain says. "From there, indescribable. … I don’t know what it would mean. If it happens, you’ll get to watch us experience it for the first time together."