Ross Chastain says 'it hurts' to finish runner-up at NASCAR Las Vegas race

Ross Chastain lost the 2022 South Point 400 to Joey Logano by a small margin of just 0.817 seconds on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It was a perfect day for the Trackhouse Racing driver as he led a race-high 68 laps and was in a position to win the 400-miler race. This win could have helped him advance to Championship 4 for the first time in his young NASCAR career. He, however, couldn’t hold off eventual race winner Logano’s charge with three laps remaining and crossed the finish line as runner-up.

Despite the P2 finish, the result was bittersweet for Ross Chastain as he knew that he missed the opportunity to advance into the Championship 4. Speaking on what went wrong in the closing lap during the post-race interview, he said:

“It’s a really, really, really good kind of hurt, but it hurts. I’m sure I can look back and find little things [to do differently]. The obvious one is when he got inside of me in three and four, right? If I just don’t commit to the top on entry, and I just thought I could rip the top and stay in front of him one more time. He had a lot of grip.”

Ross Chastain took the lead after a restart with 16 laps remaining, using the three-wide move to get around Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley for the advantage. Logano, who pitted for four fresh tires on Lap 242, restarted the race from eighth to take the lead and then passed Chastain to take the checkered flag.

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“I’m racing that guy for wins in the Cup Series for a long time to come” – Ross Chastain

A late pit stop for fresh tires helped Joey Logano get past Ross Chastain. This pushed the latter one spot below in the standings to wait another week for his next chance to advance into the next month’s season finale. Chastain, however, praised Logano for securing his fifth career Championship 4 position.

Chastain said:

“I hope I’m racing that guy for wins in the Cup Series for a long time to come. And I think it’s gonna be a fun career if that’s the case.”

With a P2 finish, he gained 42 points, which left him second in the playoff standings. Chastain will now be carrying an 18-point advantage into the second race of the Round of 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 23, 2022.