April 15, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Will Ross Chastain's new love for dirt continue at Bristol this weekend?

At Martinsville Speedway, where passing was nearly impossible, Ross Chastain defied the odds. 

After a miserable qualifying effort mired the driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet in 27th to start the Blue-Emu 400, Chastain rallied to finish fifth on Saturday night.

He executed 65 green-flag passes over the course of 403 laps, tying Kyle Busch for best in the category, but finished two positions better than the driver of the No. 18 Toyota after passing Kurt Busch on the last lap.

“It took 300-something laps just to where I could see the leaders,” Chastain said. “I don’t even know if we made any adjustments tonight. I don’t think we did, which was incredible because yesterday we needed a lot. 

“For once, I wish one of these Cup races went the full 500. That’s odd, I never think that. Proud of the effort. Proud of the rebound from (qualifying) for Trackhouse.”

Chastain didn’t sniff the top 10 over the course of the first 100 laps. By the end of the second stage on Lap 181, he had battled to 13th. Yet after the drivers cycled out of green-flag pit stops—and Denny Hamlin triggered the first incident-related caution on Lap 311 when he stalled on the fronstretch—Chastain had worked his way up to ninth. When the race returned to green nine laps later, the No. 1 Chevy picked up two more positions. Chastain passed Aric Almirola for sixth over the final 65 circuits. He held his position in overtime then pulled the bump-and-run on the No. 45 Toyota to score his fifth top-five of the year. 

“Once I was up there, I felt I could learn to race with the top five,” Chastain said. “I was in traffic all night. These cars are hard to drive. I know it’s going to catch some flak for being such a green race. But we could barely run laps by ourselves, let alone race each other. Ton of fun behind the wheel, but I understand probably not the funnest race to watch that long of a green-flag run.”

But this weekend’s dirt race is a whole different animal. And as Joey Logano proved last year, the winner doesn’t have to be a driver who traditionally excels on dirt. With his win at Circuit of the Americas—and top-five finishes on ovals from a half-mile to a mile-and-a-half—Chastain has proven he can be competitive wherever the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team unloads.

Last week, Chastain and Suarez raced micro sprints at Millbridge Speedway to prepare for this weekend’s Food City Dirt Race. Other than last year’s events on Bristol dirt or running a truck at Eldora Speedway, the 29-year-old racer had not competed on dirt.  Chastain enjoyed the experience so much, he returned this past Wednesday.

“It’s wild,” Chastain said with a grin. “I love it. I see why these guys love it so much. I couldn't imagine—I can't imagine, right now, what it would be like with a proper Sprint car—big power, big tire, big track. Millbridge is small everything. I felt like I was flying. Me and Daniel were out there racing each other. We started the feature like the A and I was last and I was happy this could be.”

Chastain, who grew up on a watermelon farm in Florida, has always embraced dirt--from an agricultural sense. He planned to visit his family this week as they harvest their crop. But could some of that fun factor from Millbridge transfer over to Bristol this weekend? 

"Just going through the process at Millbridge in a micro was good," Chastain said. "It doesn’t apply to Bristol in particular at all. I’m just trying to learn how to read the dirt, how guys attack the dirt. I’ve never looked at it that way. I’ve always looked at dirt on how you grow something in it, not how you drive on it."