"It’s a mix of offense and defense" - Ross Chastain on his approach to NASCAR Kansas race this weekend

Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain is among the top contenders for the 2022 Cup Series championship. Chastain scored two wins in the regular season to book a space in the playoffs. The first race of the Round of 16 is under our belt, and this weekend NASCAR will return to Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400, which will mark the second race of the 2022 playoffs.

Approaching Kansas this weekend, the 28-year-old driver feels he has a shot at scoring his third career and season win at Kansas Speedway. According to him, the track has progressive banking, and he feels he'll do a great job with this new car that likes momentum to perform.

In a media interaction earlier this week, a question on what Ross Chastain needs to perform well popped up. While responding to the question, the energetic driver said:

“These cars like momentum. They like more racetrack to turn on, so they want the widest corner possible. If the guy in front of you is similar in speed and he’s running your line up top, it’s not great. But the great thing about Kansas (Speedway) is that you can make the bottom work if you’re better. And if you’re not, I feel like I’ll be patient and I just have to wait for the next opportunity. You’re not stuck in line, but you don’t want to give the guy behind you momentum and clean air. So it’s a mix of offense and defense.”

This is the first playoff Ross Chastain has participated in for the past six seasons he has been behind the wheel. His first playoff race at Darlington Raceway, however, didn’t turn out as he had hoped, as he took the green flag on P12 but sealed the event with a 20th place finish. According to him, everything was fine at Darlington and the speed was on point but the end result wasn’t that pleasing.

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Ross Chastain is confident of winning at Kansas Speedway

Ross Chastain's record at the track since last year is quite impressive, and it clearly shows that he has the potential to score a win at this track. He earned a 14th and 13th-place finish last year, respectively. In May, he scored a top 10 finish after sitting in the top five for the better part of the race. If he can maintain a fast pace like last time, things could work smoothly for him.

Though Chastain hopes to have a strong finish at Kansas, things at this stage have changed, and it’s not business as usual. NASCAR drivers are now in a challenging race mode, and with Chastain having hard-raced other drivers in the regular season, they might be hunting him for payback in the playoffs.

Standing eighth in the drivers’ playoff points table shows that he has an excellent shot at advancing to the round of 12. Going into the round of 8, however, will be a little bit difficult for the Alva-born driver if he doesn’t get up his game.

Even though the new car is more unpredicted, Ross Chastain’s performances are becoming somehow predictable since Pocono. If the downward trend continues, his chances of getting to the Champion Four will be postponed to 2023.