Ross Chastain: Chase bid ‘insurmountable’ amid lack of speed

NEWTON, Iowa -- With just four races remaining before the 2026 Chase field is set, Ross Chastain knows making the 16-driver contingent will be an uphill battle. He admitted as much Saturday during practice at Iowa Speedway, acknowledging that a lack of speed has made the task increasingly difficult. “It’s the realization of speed,” Chastain said to a group of reporters on Saturday, after clocking in with the ninth-best time in qualifying. “Points are the points, and that comes with going fast and finishing up front in stages and races. We just haven’t done it. That’s why it feels insurmountable. “You can go grab 76 points in a single race if you are the best. Definitely it feels insurmountable because of the speed, is what I meant.” Chastain, who finished runner-up in the 2022 championship battle, has a single top five finish through the opening 22 races of the 2026 season. It came 20 races ago at EchoPark Speedway in the second week of the season. The pace deficit predates the 2026 season, however, as Chastain has scored two top-five finishes total since winning last year’s Coca-Cola 600, some 45 races ago. Meanwhile, Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen is fighting for a Chase berth, sitting 15th on the grid, 57 points above the cutline with a trio of tracks measuring 1-mile or less on the horizon. Chastain enters the 23rd race of the season 21st in the driver’s standings. The No. 1 team is 82 points below bubble driver Austin Cindric -- and 101 markers behind van Gisbergen. Time is running thin to make a Chase push. Outside of Chastain’s four stage victories in 2026 -- tied with Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson for the third-most in the series -- the No. 1 team has totaled just 16 stage points in the remaining 40 stages. But the ninth-place starting position for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is his best qualifying effort at a non-drafting track oval since Bristol Motor Speedway, nearly four months ago. MORE: Full lineup | Best Iowa photos “Off throttle more, slowing down for the corner,” Chastain said of why he feels comfortable this weekend. “This aero package, horsepower package feels similar to me, and the speed seems to come with it.” Yet Chastain was stunned to realize he secured a top-10 starting spot. He was battling a loose condition and ended the session less than one-tenth of a second behind polesitter Ryan Blaney. “The [23.566-second lap] we ran could have been so much better, and we just missed the balance,” Chastain stated. "I’m pumped.” Chastain believes his No. 1 Chevrolet feels similar to Nashville Superspeedway, which was trending in the right direction before blowing a brake rotor late in Stage 1. There is optimism within the Trackhouse camp at Iowa, as Connor Zilisch tallied the best oval start of his career thus far (eighth). Until Chastain is officially eliminated from Chase contention, the gritty journeyman competitor will go down fighting.