"A watermelon farmer just won Darlington": Ross Chastain reacts after taming ‘The Lady in Black’

Ross Chastain scored his first win of the 2024 season as he took the checkered flag in the Truck race at Darlington.

The racetrack, which is also referred to as 'Too Tough to Tame' or 'The Lady in Black', is generally considered one of the toughest racetracks on the calendar. But Chastain tamed the track considered 'Too Tough to Tame', and doing so meant a lot to the "Melon Man."

This was something which was reflected in his post-race interview when he was asked about how much grit it took for him to win at Darlington. Chastain also revealed why winning at Darlington meant so much to him.

“Grit, I don’t know…it takes [crew chief] Phil Gould, it takes Niece Motorsports. We have been trying to win at Darlington…this is where my career changed, my life changed forever, for better or worse, however this all works out," Chastain said.

"That first opportunity here with CGR [Chip Ganassi Racing] and Spire to put me together with that group…It’s so cool. We won Darlington," he added.

When asked about his satisfaction at standing on top of the truck and smashing a watermelon to celebrate his win, Chastain, who comes from a family of watermelon farmers, pointed to the often overlooked side of the watermelon business. He spoke about the sacrifices many make in the agriculture industry.

"There's such a small percentage of our population in charge of feeding the rest of the world, not that a watermelon is a part of anybody's every day diet ... but a watermelon farmer just won Darlington and for everything that it means for Niece Motorsports, I think 5 years ago to the day we won our first race, we're back in victory lane," he said.

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Ross Chastain thought he'd become a watermelon farmer, never dreamed of racing in NASCAR

Ahead of this year's Daytona 500, Ross Chastain opened up on how he thought his life was going to go. The #1 driver in the Cup Series claimed he didn't grow up dreaming about racing in the Daytona 500 because he was "just a casual race fan."

“I was gonna be a watermelon farmer. That’s what I was gonna do," Chastain said, via Fox.

But once he started racing from the age of 12, that's when the light turned on in his head. That was when he realized he wanted to be a racecar driver and beat the drivers he saw.

He added that it was the watermelon industry which funded the early part of his career. And now that he's made it at the highest level of NASCAR, now that he's winning races, he has incorporated watermelons into his victory celebrations.