Ross Chastain savors his Kansas triumph with NASCAR’s $133B-worth sponsor

Ross Chastain surged from a 20th-place start to snapping his 30-race winless streak after triumphing in the Hollywood Casino 400 race. The moment called for celebrations, and the Trackhouse Racing driver cherished his post-race moment with NASCAR's 45-year-old partner, Anheuser Busch's Busch Light Beer.

Chastain tried to propel his #1 Chevy to the victory lane during the regular season but missed the mark every time. He netted a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his best preseason result. The Trackhouse Racing driver was the polesitter in the postseason race at Watkins Glen, but his Chevy was reduced to another P4 finish.

Despite a poor showing at the qualifying event, Chastain revived his pace in the second half of the 267-lap race and took off after overtaking Martin Truex Jr. during the final restart on Lap 248. After winning his first Kansas victory, the Florida native cherished his achievement with a "little bit of Busch Light" beer. Anheuser Busch, having a market capitalization of $133.25B (as per Wall Street Zen), has been an active sponsor of NASCAR since 1979.

"Hey Kansas Speedway, we're taking this trophy home. We're drinking a little bit of Busch Light," Chastain said.

Drinking beer, however, was already on Ross Chastain's mind as he screamed for it at the top of his voice while doing the victory burnouts.

"Hell yeah, boys! Make some smoke and drink some Busch Light. Let's drink some beer!" the race-winner exclaimed.

The Trackhouse Racing driver fended off William Byron in his final dash to claim his fifth Cup Series victory.

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"It didn’t feel great all day": Ross Chastain on his Kansas race before surging to the top

Ross Chastain didn't show a promising result in the qualifying and was 0.496 seconds off the pace compared to polesitter Christopher Bell. He survived the opening lap chaos that collected many, including Josh Berry, Jimmie Johnson, and Chase Elliott, to name a few. However, he couldn't gain much and settled Stage 1 in 12th place.

The second stage witnessed no improvements from the #1 Chevy driver as he couldn't find his way past the rivals, and ended up 12th in the second stage as well. However, after grabbing the lead for the first time on Lap 177, Chastain didn't lose momentum and stayed with the frontrunners.

Moreover, NextGen's burning rubber and fresh layer gelling with the underlying asphalt helped the Trackhouse driver gain traction. After leading 52 laps and having an aerodynamic advantage over Byron, Ross Chastain dethroned the Hendrick Motorsports driver by 0.388 seconds.

During a post-race interview, the race-winner pointed out his lackluster run all day and that tire wear helped him succeed in his pursuit to ace the race.

“There’s been times this year where we couldn’t have disrupted the minnow pond outside of Darlington, let alone a Cup race. It’s hard. It’s really tough. To come and do this, there are times where I didn’t think after practicing and qualifying we had what it took. I thought we have been way stronger here in the past. It didn’t feel great all day, but our Kubota Chevy, it was better as the rubber went down, and the adjustments were great,” Chastain said via NASCAR.

As Ross Chastain is not in the playoffs, William Byron has jumped atop the rankings and will enter the next race at Talladega with a 34-point cushion.