NASCAR at COTA race results: Ross Chastain fought off chaos to win. What we learned
.JPG "Ross Chastain celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Circuit of the Americas, Sunday, March 27, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman)")
Ross Chastain scored his first NASCAR Cup win at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, and a first-ever victory for Trackhouse Racing. The Florida native known for his farming roots smashed a watermelon on the ground from atop his winning car in celebration.
“When it comes to a Cup win, man, I can’t let that go down without a fight,” Chastain said on Fox.
A fight is what it took for the checkered flag. Here’s what we learned during the race.
Chastain climbs through wild finish
For a race that was fairly caution-free in the first two stages, the final stage and last laps produced multiple yellow flags. With three laps to go, a chaotic restart ensued, one that NASCAR had to review for improper lane violations. NASCAR deemed the restart “good,” but the caution came out for Joey Logano spinning mid-pack just after the green flag.
The field re-racked for an overtime restart led by Tyler Reddick, Chastain, AJ Allmendinger and Alex Bowman. Chastain leaned on Reddick coming through the esses and made his pass to retake the lead he earlier lost, which he held coming to the white flag lap.
But veteran Allmendinger was all over his tail and moved Chastain wide in Turn 15 of the 20-turn road course in Austin, Texas. Allmendinger slid to the lead as Chastain tried to get his spot back sandwiched between Allmendinger and Bowman.
It was a battle between the three.
“At the end of the day, each person has to make the move that they’re comfortable with, and that’s fine,” Allmendinger said on Fox. “... We know we had a shot to win the race. It’s tough to win a Cup race, so when you put yourself in a position to legitimately run up front all day and have a shot to win it, it’s a pretty great day.”
What could have been a greater day for Allmendinger was obstructed by Chastain, who bumped him from behind as Bowman started to pass them both in Turn 18. That contact sent Allmendinger into Bowman, and Allmendinger went around as Bowman sailed off course. Chastain secured the lead for the win.
“Unfortunately, we needed about two more corners,” Allmendinger said.
Driver drama?
Bowman isn’t appearing to take it personally, but it was a late heartbreak for a driver who was close to winning his second race of the season.
“At the end of the race, I didn’t run into anybody and just tried to take advantage of two guys running into each other and it didn’t work out for me,” Bowman told Fox Sports. “So I’m not mad. I understand the 16 (Allmendinger) being mad and I understand the 1 (Chastain) doing what he did, but we put on a hell of a show for the fans and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.”
Bowman suggested that he knows what it’s like to be involved with late contact that won’t make any friends racing for the win.
“I’ve been on the other side of it so I have to live with it,” Bowman said. “Talk about Martinsville (last year) and I had to live with that. Best advice I have for Ross on that is put it on a T-shirt and sell the hell out of them.”
Bowman was referring to the “Hack” T-shirts he made after a run-in with Denny Hamlin during playoffs last year at Martinsville, in which Bowman snagged the win and Hamlin halted his burnout, and called Bowman a “hack” during his postrace interview.
Big win for Trackhouse
On Sunday, Chastain looked like a top driver in a top car, leading a race-high 31 laps. It was an impressive performance from the 29-year-old who spent most of his NASCAR career signed to one-year contracts.
He scored his first multi-year deal with the Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned Trackhouse Racing team after his former Chip Ganassi Racing team was sold to Trackhouse at the end of last season. Marks said then that he saw Chastain’s talent and added him as their second driver this year alongside Mexico native Daniel Suárez.
Between Suárez and Chastain, Trackhouse has been off to a strong start this year. Chastain finished in the top five in the two races prior to Sunday (third at Las Vegas and second at Phoenix). Suárez won the first stage of the race and led 15 laps at COTA, the most laps he’s led at a road course during his Cup career. Suárez was turned after the next restart, and finished a disappointing 24th, but the overall result for the organization was a win.
Chastain said after the race that he still couldn’t believe Marks hired him to drive his car. That decision is looking pretty good now.
NASCAR race at COTA results
| Pos. | Car No. | Driver | Time behind | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Ross Chastain | -- | 69 |
| 2 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 1.331 | 69 |
| 3 | 20 | Christopher Bell | 1.871 | 69 |
| 4 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 2.661 | 69 |
| 5 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | 3.034 | 69 |
| 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 3.458 | 69 |
| 7 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | 3.874 | 69 |
| 8 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | 3.997 | 69 |
| 9 | 43 | Erik Jones | 4.803 | 69 |
| 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 5.17 | 69 |
| 11 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 5.376 | 69 |
| 12 | 24 | William Byron | 5.699 | 69 |
| 13 | 34 | Michael McDowell | 6.372 | 69 |
| 14 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 7.163 | 69 |
| 15 | 31 | Justin Haley | 7.955 | 69 |
| 16 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | 8.151 | 69 |
| 17 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | 8.561 | 69 |
| 18 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 9.27 | 69 |
| 19 | 10 | Aric Almirola | 9.528 | 69 |
| 20 | 42 | Ty Dillon | 10.558 | 69 |
| 21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 10.56 | 69 |
| 22 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | 11.05 | 69 |
| 23 | 41 | Cole Custer | 11.247 | 69 |
| 24 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 11.488 | 69 |
| 25 | 50 | * Kaz Grala(i) | 11.987 | 69 |
| 26 | 66 | * Boris Said | 15.798 | 69 |
| 27 | 51 | Cody Ware | 19.635 | 69 |
| 28 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 28.215 | 69 |
| 29 | 5 | Kyle Larson | 42.684 | 69 |
| 30 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | 109.473 | 69 |
| 31 | 22 | Joey Logano | 114.736 | 69 |
| 32 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | 0.931 | 68 |
| 33 | 45 | Kurt Busch | 76.243 | 68 |
| 34 | 27 | * Loris Hezemans(i) | -7 | 62 |
| 35 | 15 | Joey Hand | -9 | 60 |
| 36 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | -12 | 57 |
| 37 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -17 | 52 |
| 38 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | -25 | 44 |
| 39 | 78 | Andy Lally(i) | -50 | 19 |
This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 2:41 PM.
