THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by our race winner at Talladega, Ross Chastain.
ROSS CHASTAIN: For me, it’s his confidence in the way he answers that, is the whole reason we’re not underdogs. It starts at the top.
I can go into a long spiel about it, but it truly just starts with when he answers that question, that’s the reason why. That’s the reason why we believe it.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: I would be lying if I told you I remembered exactly what he said, so… Whatever he said, that’s what he said.
Q. Your dad was not at COTA. The first win he said he’s ever missed. He was here today. What was it like?
ROSS CHASTAIN: It was awesome. I realized that immediately at COTA that he wasn’t there. Yeah, that’s special. He comes a lot, he puts a lot of effort into being here, my mom does, my brother does, my family. They make the evident to drive, fly, whatever it takes. It means the world.
He is the reason that I’m here. He is the reason I fell in love with racing and why I stayed out of, I don’t want to say trouble, but like it gave me an avenue to be successful. I fell in love with it.
He didn’t push me early on. I mean, he did, but it wasn’t like other kids we were racing against. I think the way he did it was the perfect way.
We had fun racing locally. We got to this level, did a few races, kept doing more.
Beyond all that, back to the question, my dad was here, we won a Cup race, that’s so cool.
Q. A year ago a lot of things were uncertain about your future in the Cup Series. Does it just seem surreal at times?
ROSS CHASTAIN: It does not seem real at all. I keep waiting to wake up from this dream and realize it’s all not what I think I’m living.
But I’ve got great groups of people from Trackhouse, the competition and business side, my family, people in Charlotte and around Moorseville that keep reminding me and keep showing me this is real.
I talked about it earlier, sitting right here at this spot, I’m right where I want to be, and I have the people around me. They keep me remembering and keep reminding me and keep pushing me to make this the best we can make it.
We’re not resting on any of this stuff. Like Justin said, I might not be quite as sharp in the morning to get to work on Dover, but I’ll get to work on it at some point tomorrow.
Q. When you brought out the watermelon, it got a pop from the crowd. What was it like to stand on top of your car with the melon, Talladega grandstands going crazy?
ROSS CHASTAIN: Unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Roy brought it out. Mr. Roy gets it every week for us. It’s a long way down there for him. I like to remind him, at his age that’s no small feat.
I knew I wanted to stand on the car. Like I want it to smash. I don’t want it to just bust open. Yeah, my Bell helmet, I’m running ear cuffs, noise-canceling ear cuffs, and ear molds. I heard them and I felt them. The car was shaking. Then my legs started shaking. My arms were shaking. I took a second, scanned left to right, so like from the start/finish line was in my peripheral, I scanned down to the tri-oval. People were going crazy. It was wild.
Smashed it and they erupted again. Yeah, it’s indescribable. Like, I don’t have the words, but just the feeling they pumped into me, that I got, was what you dream of. Like that’s what I wanted to do when I first wanted to show watermelons, if I was ever able to win a race, I wanted that feeling. I wanted that reaction. We got that.
Q. I know the first win is the biggest. To win a race like this with patience more important?
ROSS CHASTAIN: It is now because it was a mental decision I made. Whenever I got in line there on the bottom pushing Larson, I had J.J. behind me. I’ve made the mistake, I don’t want to say I let him, but I made the mistake several times in Xfinity cars, had like track position on him, and equal cars, I moved up or made a move, he went on to win the race.
I knew he would stay on the bottom. He won so many races that way. If he pushed me and I pushed the 5, we’d have the best shot. Make the bottom the best it could be.
It’s not that I was complacent or anything. I thought my best chance of winning was to just push the bottom. That was wrong because the 43 still cleared all of us, but still I thought it was going to put me in the best position to win.
So, yeah, the patience side, it’s hard. It’s so hard every split-second decision has to be quick, but also you have to be able to live with the consequences of it.
I just thought that was my best maneuver, which I never thought that before. It’s not like, Oh, I should have always done that in the past. It just worked out this time.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: No, I think he went up to pass the 43. That’s how I remember it.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: What?
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: I was never going up. I mean, I might have — it’s a blur. Coming to the finish, Kurt is on my right rear, I’m trying to keep whoever, I don’t even know if there was anybody still behind me, no matter where the car went, the mental decision was not to go to his right rear because I had somebody on my outside, so…
That’s cool that he thought I did it, though. Let’s let him think that.
Q. I have really important questions. How old is this watermelon?
ROSS CHASTAIN: It got purchased right after COTA. So it’s been a few weeks. It was on its last leg.
Q. How does last-leg watermelon off the pavement and after 800 miles taste?
ROSS CHASTAIN: Never sweeter. Oh, my goodness. There was so much watermelon juice on my face, running down me. I looked down at it and there were no seeds. I am like, They’re either all on my face and Regan is not saying anything again. I called him on it, Are you going to tell me this time? Help a brother out.
Just knowing what that means, not to get too longwinded, but back to our family’s history, what has put food on our table for generations, to get to do that in front of let alone this crowd, but national, worldwide attention, is just all I have ever wanted to do as a race car driver, is help promote watermelons.
Q. Have watermelons ever gotten this much exposure? This platform, are you noticing the attention?
ROSS CHASTAIN: I mean, I am. I’ve noticed attention on watermelon forever. I work with different state associations, the National Watermelon Association, there’s a National Watermelon Promotion Board. We incorporate into safe driving campaigns, paint schemes whenever we can. So I’ve always had obviously the attention to it.
I mean, I still have Google alert set for watermelon race truck, watermelon driver, watermelon race car driver, to an old email address that I’ll check every now and then. I’d send off a story to the board or to the association to show them what we were doing.
I don’t know. That might be a question for somebody a little bit older than me, might know if watermelons have ever gotten this much attention. I’m going to guess not. I mean, Gallagher, right?
Q. When Justin was in here, he talked about how Talladega is hallowed ground in NASCAR. As you’ve been coming up in the sport, where was Talladega’s place in your mind, where you would want to win?
ROSS CHASTAIN: It is. It is. It was said today, like they don’t race ’em anywhere else like they race ’em at Talladega. I think Barney Hall said that, I think.
Yeah, we’ve all been watching races here forever. I mean, I come here with the — I used to come here really worried, try to focus my first couple years, try to, like, plan out every move. I realized pretty quickly that’s not possible.
Johnny Sauter said one time, Why are you worried? You’re going to be backwards in the grass at 200 miles an hour, if you don’t hit anything you’ll still have a chance to win, relax.
He just said it in passing. I don’t even know if it was driver intros or after the race. It stuck with me. I was like, You know what, he’s right. I should come here a lot more relaxed and learn and try to prepare. I prepare. I try to be the best race car driver I can be, but I’m no better because we won.
There was 25 cars today that could legitimately win this race. In theory there were 39, but 25 legitimate chances. We were just the lucky ones, the cars parted and they all hung right coming to the tri-oval, that was it.
Q. The same car as COTA. Does that make this more special?
ROSS CHASTAIN: It makes it so special that Jim France and the NASCAR family, the France family, their vision for this car, that you can win a race on a road course. Is it a month? Has it been a month or two months since COTA? In a month you can bring a car back you win at a road course and win at Talladega. That hasn’t happened since the ’60s. I don’t know, farther back. I have no idea. They would have different cars.
It’s wild. That’s more what it means to me, that this car is capable of that. Change the geometry, the suspension, shim the body a little bit, go race. Put different tune in the motor for a superspeedway, adjust your rear diffuser, adjust everything, and the same car can come race. That’s just wild.
I’m not sitting here going to say it’s any cheaper yet. I don’t think it’s cheaper for us than just building a new car like in the past. I don’t know. I don’t know the business behind what we’re doing. I just drive the cars.
It is special, though.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: I’m not. I mean, I like that we still have my first-ever race truck, my Monte-Carlo race car back home. We have my brother’s first car. That kind of stuff is neat. I will probably never get rid of those.
You honestly can’t tell. The first time that ever happened for me, you can always tell something between each car, there’s always a little something different. I wrecked in the Duel last year in the 42 car, wrecked the car. We went to a backup. I got in for practice the next day, and I called them out. There’s no way, this is the same car, same interior.
They’re like, No, it’s all new, but it’s all that good. It’s that well-prepared. They prepare it that close that you can’t tell a difference. Same thing with these cars. I can’t tell a difference week in, week out. I can’t tell that it’s the same car because I can’t tell that one’s any different.
Q. Your first Cup victories have come at two distinct tracks. Is that mind-blowing for you?
ROSS CHASTAIN: Absolutely mind-blowing, it is. I grew up short-track racing, so I just assumed and thought that was where I was the best. Turning right was hard, drafting was hard. I just thought I would never be able to catch up to guys that had been doing it so much longer than me. A lot of time and work and really good people surrounding me, we’ve closed the gap. There’s still a long ways to go.
But, yeah, it’s absolutely mind-blowing.
Q. Where does this rank among your victories?
ROSS CHASTAIN: I don’t put any of them ahead of any other one. This one and COTA, yeah, I mean, it’s Cup, it’s different, but, I mean, I put it right next to the Iowa Truck win.
Q. Justin has talked about this team being a disruptor, doing things in a different way. How has he impacted you, and how has he impacted this team, especially when he’s more based in Nashville?
ROSS CHASTAIN: I’d say as much on the business and public side, he’s a disruptor. His messaging to me is like I don’t have to be a disruptor anymore. On track, it’s okay, I can take a breath, I don’t have to drive every lap.
I would say I was a disruptor through trucks, Xfinity, early on in Cup last year. It took several different people that I have a lot of respect for, some that at the time I didn’t really know why they were telling me these things because I didn’t know them that well.
Justin, like this year, It’s okay, stop, just stop. You’re okay. Just go drive the car, but you don’t have to win every lap. Win the day, be as good as we can that day.
Yeah, as far as everything else, Trackhouse is maybe a disruptor in that sense. For me, it’s almost been the opposite.
Q. I noticed they showed probably with about five laps to go the different winners throughout the year. Maybe all but Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were younger drivers. Coming into the Cup Series, seeing all these drivers you raced with doing well, does that motivate you at all?
ROSS CHASTAIN: I don’t look at any car, anything farther than how do I pass ’em or how do I race ’em. I think there are more of us that are in our 20s, 20-year-old range. Yeah, I see what everybody is talking about. I do see the trend. Those guys are good. They have forgotten more than I’ve ever learned. That’s been the hardest part about Cup, is trying to catch up to that.
Even though it’s a different car, totally different environment on track, with everything about this new car, still they’re that good that they will adapt. Trying to come as prepared as I can be every week, I still look to those guys.
I’m studying them to try to be the best race car driver I can be, so I think they’re the best.
Q. Did you get a chance to talk with Pitbull at all?
ROSS CHASTAIN: I haven’t. That’s twice in a row in Victory Lane, I’m running around, hugging, jumping on people. Justin, they’re off on the side where they can actually hear him.
I’ll have a text from him. We text every so often. He’s always motivating. He wants to be here, he does. We’re going to catch up down in south Florida because our homes aren’t that far apart. Couldn’t probably be farther environment and socially, a farther distance in the world. Yeah, we have the same passion for this right now.
I mean, he’s Mr. Worldwide. The thought he’s going to be here, like Justin said, every week, is a dream. He’ll be here. He’s going to be here for one of these wins.
I think rolling off today, Daniel, I thought he had one of the fastest cars. Honestly the wreck that took them out coming to the restart, I shut the car off to try to keep it cool, saving gas, coming to the restart I popped the clutch, the ignition was off. I lagged back.
I took off but I didn’t actually catch up. That’s when Joey got turned in turn one, they all wrecked, I was barely able to slow down enough. I would have been in that wreck with Daniel but for that mistake. I feel like Daniel, I truly believe, I see the preparation, the 1 and 99, he’s going to win races. When he does, he’s going to rattle them off. He’s that level, that caliber driver. The 1 and 99 are building together.
Yeah, I haven’t gotten to talk to Armando yet.
Q. A lot of special things about today’s win. How would you sum up what you’re going to remember years from now about this?
ROSS CHASTAIN: I mean, I’m going to remember that I crossed the line. I honestly didn’t know if we won. I mean, I knew that I quit blocking I think the 3. Did the 3 finish second? I had saw the 5 and the 43 hanging right. I was just motoring on the bottom. Brandon said, Go to the top.
I’m like, That’s weird. The 3 is going to push me.
I knew I was coming to the checkered. I crossed the line. They were all slowing down. I was like, Did we win? Like, we won? Everybody is slowing down. I was like, We won the race. That’s wild.
So, I mean, that’s the first thing. Then for the first time ever I blew the rear tires doing burnouts. I felt them unraveling, I didn’t care. I had it in second gear, wide open. I’ll take the hit on that, whatever we got to do to fix it. In the moment I couldn’t control myself.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: Terrible. Terrible, yeah. I just cost us the race I thought. Absolutely. I didn’t think there was any way.
I knew there was a way to get back in it. Honestly, I knew it would be hard. Just track position, man. We had cycled out to be fifth. The whole rest of the race, I had to watch the 43, watch Erik up there dicing it up, if nothing else, learning how to race with the leaders.
I’m 12th in line at the bottom, 13th in line on the top. I’m just stuck. Tried the very top a couple times, tried to work with a few guys, hung guys out, got hung out.
Took Phil Surgen, strategy, key move. When we had the speeding penalty, I didn’t get down. It was like, Well, make it a whole lot harder. We had just jumped so many guys to come out fifth.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, the field was counted down. Brandon counted down leaders, side-by-side, two-by-two. McDowell had slowed down when I had to do my pass-through, I don’t know why he was that far back. He slowed down so we could draft together. That prolonged us going down a few laps.
I knew I had to race him for the free pass, Brad was in the pack, at the tail. Off of two I started dragging back to get gapped off of Michael, get a little momentum for him.
Into three, it’s a decision I made on my own. I offset to the right of Michael, so he was on the bottom, and I went to the right. I’m about a car length or a little bit less back.
I knew that that put everybody either going two-by-two above me, which I would probably have to give it to them. When I saw the 5 split to the bottom, I disrupted the field. That was my goal, was create turbulence where I can catch up and they don’t put me all the way to the back.
I mean, I thought about it for a few laps. It’s not something I would do every time. In that situation I felt the risk of what I was doing was enough to get the free pass at the stage break, to get around the 34 and stay ahead of Brad. Turns out it probably wasn’t enough.
They both got their laps back a couple cautions later. I knew to get the first free pass at stage one end, I had to disrupt the field. If not, they would blow by me. Michael, me and Brad would all be at the back of the line, then we’d be stuck. If I was behind one of them, I’d never pass them.
Yeah, I’m sure Kyle wasn’t super happy with me. Might have cost him the lead. I felt like it was a risk worth taking and it was on purpose.
THE MODERATOR: Ross, congratulations.
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