NASCAR penalized Ross Chastain but later rescinded it during Texas Cup race

Ross Chastain, who didn't have the best start at Texas Motor Speedway in 31st place, was penalized for driving through many pit boxes. Fortunately for him, NASCAR later withdrew the penalty, allowing the driver to continue his strong run to the front.

Driving the #1 Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing, Ross Chastain was looking to bounce back following a 20th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway the week prior. With a penalty disregarded, the 32-year-old was able to post his best result of the year in second place.

In a report by NASCAR Insider Jeff Gluck, the sanctioning body determined that the #1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet didn't drive through too many pit boxes. It rescinded the penalty and concluded the review by disregarding it.

"NASCAR issues a penalty to Ross Chastain for driving through too many pit boxes, then rescinds it and says disregard. Assuming there was a review," Gluck wrote.

Ross Chastain battled Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney on the final restart, but the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion pulled away from the field to take his first win of the 2025 season. Blaney came in third, followed by Kyle Larson and Erik Jones, respectively.

Chastain's Trackhouse Racing teammate, Daniel Suarez, joined him on the top 10 finishers' list at the Fort Worth circuit. Shane van Gisbergen, the new third driver in the Chevrolet-affiliated team, finished 22nd, extending his top 10 drought to eight races.

Ross Chastain driving the #1 Chevrolet Camaro at Texas Motor Speedway - Source: Getty

After the Würth 400, Chastain has two top-5s and six top-10s, including a fifth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His second-place finish at Texas is tied with Daniel Suarez's result from Las Vegas as Trackhouse Racing's best performances of the season.

---

"They made me confident": Ross Chastain on key adjustment from the team after finishing second at Texas

Ross Chastain and the other Trackhouse Racing drivers didn't have the strongest cars coming to Texas Motor Speedway, as evidenced by their underwhelming qualifying results. However, the #1 driver said the team made adjustments to his car, which gave him confidence before scoring his season-high finish in second.

Speaking about his drive from the 31st to the second place, Chastain said (via Fox Sports on X):

"That's a working day. Just no confidence in the car yesterday, and you all saw that in the speed of the Trackhouse cars on Saturday [it's] terrible. We're just not confident, all three drivers." (0:13 onwards)

"There was one pit stop today that Phil Surgeon (Ross Chastain's crew chief) and the group, it takes a lot of people, back at Trackhouse, and on the box here, and GM (General Motors) and Chevrolet, they made me a confident driver. All of a sudden with one adjustment. It was a small stuff. It doesn't even make sense," he added.

As soon as Chastain came to grips with the adjustment, he had a strong run in the mile-and-a-half showdown in the Lone Star State.

"I can't drive an uncomfortable car. I can't, personally. So, as soon as I got comfortable or at least gave me some confidence, we started going forward," he concluded.

Next on the calendar is the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, the last stop before the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. FS1 will kick off the TV coverage on May 11 at 3:00 p.m. ET.