Race Notes
Kubota Tractor Corp: This weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chastain will drive the orange-and-black Kubota Tractor Corporation Chevrolet for the first time this season. Kubota joined the Trackhouse Racing family in 2022 with their first primary race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway where Chastain finished second. The Florida native will also pilot the Kubota Chevrolet next weekend at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, and four additional races this season.
$10,000 Donation for Top-10 Finish: For the second year, Kubota and Trackhouse Racing are putting the partnership in overdrive in support of farmer veterans. In the races Kubota is serving as the primary sponsor of Chastain’s No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, a $10,000 donation will be made to the Farmer Veteran Coalition for a top-10 finish. The Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) is a national nonprofit organization that assists military veterans and currently serving members of the Armed Forces to transition into careers in farming, and since 2015, Kubota has partnered with FVC on the “Geared to Give” program which has provided more than $900,000 to the coalition in the form of organizational support, grants to veterans and 41 pieces of donated equipment.
Las Vegas: Since joining Trackhouse Racing, Chastain has earned three top-five finishes in four Cup Series races at the 1.5-mile track and has qualified in the top-11 three times. He also has one win at the Nevada track in the Xfinity Series.
Meet Chastain: Chastain will sign autographs at the Ross Chastain merchandise hauler at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday beginning at 9:25 a.m. local time - wristbands required.
NASCAR: Full Speed: Catch Chastain in the five-episode docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed on Netflix. The series documented portions of Chastain's 2023 season on and off the track. All five episodes are currently available on Netflix.
Last Weekend at Atlanta: Chastain started 21st at Atlanta Motor Speedway yesterday his ninth Cup start at the 1.54-mile track. He finished third in Stage 1 and took the checkered flag in seventh after he rallied back from one lap down. Teammate Daniel Suárez won the event on Sunday evening, marking Trackhouse Racing's seventh Cup Series win.
2023 Season Recap: Chastain won at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in June and at the Phoenix Raceway season finale in November. He posted 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in his third fulltime Cup season. The Alva, Florida native finished ninth in points.Ross Chastain Career Statistics
Chastain Quotes:
How much are you looking forward to racing at Las Vegas?
“We’ve obviously had strong cars for the first two races of the season and Daniel has too. Trackhouse as a whole has had good start to the season with Daniel’s win last week at Atlanta. This weekend is the first mile-and-a-half we’re going to, so we’ll get to see how much our off-season work is going to pay off for us. I enjoy racing at Vegas, and we’ve had some strong runs there in the Cup car with Trackhouse and obviously I’ve won there in the Xfinity Series.”
Can you talk a little about your connection with Kubota and Farmer Veteran Coalition?
“It’s a great program that Kubota supports and if I do my job well (laughs) and finish in the top-10 in the Kubota car, they’ll donate $10,000 to the Farmer Veteran Coalition. As everyone knows, I’m very passionate about the ag community and last year I was able to present farmers with keys to Kubota equipment through the program. It’s awesome to meet people passionate about ag and that companies like Kubota are supportive of the community.”
About Kubota Tractor Corporation:
Kubota Tractor Corporation, Grapevine, Texas, is the U.S. marketer and distributor of Kubota-engineered and manufactured machinery and equipment, including a complete line of tractors of up to 200 Gross hp performance- matched implements, compact construction equipment, consumer lawn and garden equipment, hay tools, commercial turf products and utility vehicles. For product literature or dealer locations, contact: Kubota Tractor Corporation, 1000 Kubota Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051, (888) 4-KUBOTA [(888) 458-2682], Ext. 900, or visit KubotaUSA.com.
Suárez Notes
Atlanta Victory: Daniel Suárez battled three-wide with Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch to take the checkered flag by .003 seconds in Sunday night's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
History Making: That Atlanta margin of victory was the closest finish ever at Atlanta, the closest finish at a 1.5-mile track and the third closest in the NASCAR Cup Series since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993.
Another Trackhouse Victory: Sunday was Trackhouse Racing's seventh win in the NASCAR Cup Series, and the first at Atlanta. Trackhouse Chevrolets have won two of the last three points races. Chastain won at the 2023 season-ending race at Phoenix Raceway.
Freeway Insurance: Sunday's victory was the first for Freeway Insurance who began its fourth season with Suárez and Trackhouse Racing in 2024. The company will be the No. 99's primary sponsor in the first four Cup races in 2024.
2024 Season So Far: Suárez has scored points in four of the five stages in 2024. He led with 14 and 13 laps remaining at the Daytona 500 but was collected in a major crash with eight laps remaining. At Atlanta on Sunday he won his second career Cup Series race.
Las Vegas: Suárez owns top-16 finishes in four of the last five races at Las Vegas.
Vegas in October: Suárez started last after a practice crash and drove to a 15th-place finish in a backup car in Sunday's race.
Mexico Series: Suárez won the 150-lap Mexico Series race at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Feb. 3. It was his 11th victory in the series.
New Crew Chief: Matt Swiderski begins his first season as the No. 99 team's crew chief. Swiderski went to victory lane with Suárez in only their second points race as a duo. The 42-year-old Swiderski led the No. 16 Kaulig Racing NASCAR Cup Series team to two victories over the last three seasons.
First Mexican to Win in Cup: Suárez became the first driver from Mexico (Monterrey) to win in the NASCAR Cup Series on June 12, 2022, at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
International Driver: He is one of six drivers not from the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race: Shane van Gisbergen (New Zealand), Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Earl Ross (Canada) and Mario Andretti (Italy).
Cup Career Highlights: Suárez owns two victories (Sonoma 2022 and Atlanta 2024) and three Busch Light Pole Awards - Pocono (Pa.) Raceway July 2018, Kentucky Speedway July 2019, and on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway August 2023.
English is Second Language: Suárez, came to America to race. He did not speak English when he arrived in Buffalo, New York. He is the only Spanish-speaking driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.Daniel Suárez Career Statistics
Suárez Quotes:
What does the Atlanta victory mean to you?
“We have done a lot of work on this race team to make it better and to keep moving forward. This is just the beginning of something amazing that we are going to go through together. I am so happy for all my Amigos at Freeway Insurance who have been with us for so long. That victory was a group effort. Our partners at Chevrolet, all of our sponsors and all of the people at Trackhouse Racing.”
Are you ready to relax now that you have a victory and likely secured a playoff spot?
“No way. Atlanta will be the first of many victories. This makes us want to keep working and win more. I have always said I don’t want to just get in the playoffs. We want to win and advance in the playoffs.”
What are your thoughts on Las Vegas?
“I hope practice and qualifying go better than last year. We had an issue and crashed, but on race day our backup car was pretty quick. I was very proud of my guys. That wreck Saturday put us back and we had to get the backup car ready with no laps of practice. They stayed late Saturday night and came in early on race day. The car didn’t feel like a backup and if we had another 100 miles we would have finished even better than 16th. We passed many cars coming from the back a few times.”
What did you do in the offseason to make Daniel Suarez stronger?
“Well, I did a lot of work with my crew chief Matt Swiderski and the rest of the engineers in the simulator and analyzing myself what can I be better at. This is not just ‘we changed the crew chief’ that’s the solution. No, it has to be way more than that and I think we all need to change a few things here and there. Myself, crew chief, engineering department, pit crew department. With these changes, I believe we’ll be in a different place this year.”
What will it take for Trackhouse to break through?
“There are a lot of young teams like Trackhouse that are getting stronger every year. I truly believe that this year Trackhouse is really going to be stronger than last year. I can’t wait to see that reflected on track and hopefully we can give them a run for the money.”
Trackhouse Racing PR
- Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse Darlington (S.C.) Raceway Competition Notes - May 8, 2024
- Alltroo Teams up with 23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace to Spotlight Charitable Organizations During All-Star Weekend - May 8, 2024
- Delta Speedway Returns Saturday Night May 11th for Second Race of 2024 - May 8, 2024