As NASCAR headed for Sin City this weekend for the Pennzoil 400, perhaps no driver was as confident as Ross Chastain, with top-five finishes at three of his last four outings at the Vegas Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, the weekend would unfold for the worst right from the beginning, as the #1 Trackhouse Racing garage received a penalty that saw the team drop back owing to unapproved adjustments they had made to the hood’s wrap.

Starting on the back foot, Chastain still managed to carve his way to the very front, even challenging the night’s fastest drivers, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick for the lead. But after his previous results at Vegas, it seemed like luck had run out for the Melon man. Not learning from his mistakes in the last two races, Chastain fell victim to another penalty as he sped in the pit lane. However, the #1 driver put in a heroic drive thereafter to seal another top-five finish at Vegas. Now you may expect Chastain to be ecstatic at the outcome. In reality, however, the driver couldn’t help but frown at the missed opportunity.

Despite top-five finishes, Ross Chastain feels he couldn’t do justice to his car’s pace

Despite the early setback on Saturday, the #1 was looking stronger than ever. The Trackhouse veteran quickly made his way to eighth position in the first stage. However, yet another setback would strike Chastain as he pitted under the green flag pit stop window in the second stage. But it wasn’t over just yet, as the Chevy proved to be a reliable chariot.

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With the penalty from speeding in the pits putting Chastain a lap down on the field, the #1 Trackhouse garage was praying for a few cautions. And that’s exactly what they got when Christopher Bell lost traction and spun at the end of the second stage, allowing Chastain to stay out of the pits and get back on the lead lap. Soon enough, he was once again hunting down the top ten, when Corey Lajoie’s incident cemented Chastain’s recovery.

While he narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth, the result brought in by Chastain spoke volumes of the pace he had throughout the weekend. Still, the prospect of not getting a better result with such a formidable car left a sour taste in Chastain’s mouth.

The 31-year-old state stated, “The handling of the car is incredible. It’s everything that I want, dream about and wake up and train for is to drive cars like this. That’s what makes it hurt so much worse.” Chastain felt that if he had finished fourth with a car that wasn’t capable of performing better, the result would have been more than satisfactory. He added, “You all have seen me throughout my career, I jump up and down for a fourth-place finish.”

But with a car as competent as his, like others have stated, the #1 driver felt there was more to be extracted. He expressed his disappointment with the result as well as his excitement for the future, “When I have a car capable of winning and I take ourselves out, that’s what I can get down about right now, but excited about because I know how good the car was and how much speed it had.”

While it’s safe to say Ross Chastain’s recovery from major setbacks at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway reflected greatly on his performance, that wasn’t the only factor that made Chastain repeat another top five in Sin City.

Ross Chastain’s Crew Chief made all the right calls in Sin City

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Even though Christopher Bell’s misfortune at the end of the second stage triggered the change in fortunes for Ross Chastain, what ultimately helped him make his way into the top five was a crucial decision from crew chief Phil Surgen. With Chastain opting to stay out the last time around to make up ground, his tires were in dire need of replacement if the 31-year-old wanted to make it to the top five.

So when Corey LaJoie spun with only 33 laps to go, Chastain’s crew chief sprung into action, calling for the #1 to pit for changing two tires. This change would give Chastain enough momentum to catch up to the pack and stick with them on the restart. While it may have been risky if things went awry once again in the pit lane, it all worked out for the better.

“That was everything,” Reflecting on his crew chief’s decision, Chastain shared; “We would have been back in the teens. I didn’t care if it was two tires, put the spare tire on, it doesn’t really matter.” He was quoted by Jayski’s, “Our car was good enough with clean air to fight with those guys. It didn’t matter how many tires – I wanted clean air. (Surgen) said it and I was yelling on the radio, yes, and I’m glad he thought of it.”

Now that Ross Chastain has managed to come out of a tumultuous weekend with positive takeaways, it’s only a matter of time before one of the Ford drivers takes the fight to Chevy for the win.