Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team, Ross Chastain claimed victory at the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The 29-year-old stunned everyone on the final lap to eventually take the lead and hold off Kyle Larson and Erik Jones in Sunday's thriller.
During the post-race interview, speaking about his crazy last lap overtake at Talladega Superspeedway, Chastain said:
“Holy cow. I’m always the one going to the top too early, making the mistake. There at the end it was like eight to go, I was like, I’m not going up there again. I did that a couple times today. I was like, I’ll just ride on the bottom.
If it works, I’m not going to lose the race for us, I’ll just let them. I have no idea. They kept going up, kept moving out of the way.”
Chastain’s 2022 NASCAR Cup Series started with a DNF at Daytona 500 followed by 29th at WISE Power 400. From there, Chastain bounced back and acquired three consecutive top-five finishes and his first career victory at the Circuit of the Americas.
This week was a good one for the Florida-native as he came away with a win at Talladega. Overall, his season was filled with highs and lows.
After winning only the second race of his Cup Series career, Chastain celebrated the win with his patented watermelon smash in victory lane.
Where Ross Chastain stands on the points table after GEICO 500
With the completion of every NASCAR Cup Series, drivers were awarded with points based on their performances throughout the race.
With Talladega’s win, Ross Chastain gained 42 points. He occupies ninth place in the latest release of the Cup Series points table. He has a total of 292 points with two wins and six top-five finishes.
Meanwhile, Chase Elliott’s seventh place finish boosted him in the points table as he sits on top with 368 points. He was followed by Ryan Blaney with 347 points, William Byron with 334 points, Kyle Busch with 312 points and Alex Bowman with 309 points.