Ross Chastain and his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team have a big weekend ahead at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City both on and off the track.
Not only is Sunday’s race the second of the 10-race 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but Chastain and the Kubota Tractor Corporation will present farm equipment to five farmer veterans in attendance Sunday as part of Kubota’s “Geared to Give” initiative with Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC).
Chastain will take the fan stage outside the media center at 11:15 a.m. local time Sunday for a media event and fan Q&A where he will present the Kubota utility tractor, compact tractor, disc mower and utility vehicle keys to the farmer veteran recipients – Chelsey Stimson, U.S. Navy veteran, Bridger, Montana ; Eric Pollack, U.S. Army veteran, Willisburg, Kentucky ; Joshua Morris, U.S. Army veteran, Rolla, Missouri ; Hunter Uhland, U.S. Air Force veteran, Atwood, Kansas ; Brian Chambers, U.S. Air Force veteran, Alstead, New Hampshire.
“As most everyone in NASCAR knows by the now, I’m very supportive of the farming community. That’s been my life since I was a kid,” said Chastain who is an eighth-generation watermelon farmer.
“Farm equipment is expensive so this is a huge deal for Kubota to make this contribution to the farming community. It’s even more special because Monday is September 11 and the farmers getting the keys Sunday served in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
Chastain’s top-10 finishes in a Kubota branded car have helped contribute to the “Geared to Give” program. Each time Chastain finishes in the top-10 in the Kubota livery, a $10,000 donation is made to FVC on behalf of Kubota.
So far this year, Chastain’s finishes have raised $20,000, another top-10 finish at Kansas and again at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October could double the total.
He will be one of the favorites on Sunday.
In the May Kansas race, Chastain started third and finished fifth. He has earned top-seven finishes in his last three Cup Series finishes at the mile-and-a-half Kansas track.
The 31-year-old Alva, Florida native is 11th of the 16 drivers in the playoffs, 13 points ahead of the transfer spot.
After Kansas and next Saturday night’s race on Sept. 16 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway the 16-driver playoff field will be reduced to 12 drivers. Last year, Chastain went all of the way to the championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway and finished runner-up in the standings.
A victory automatically moves the No. 1 team into the second round of the playoffs.
Chastain heads into Kansas coming off of a fifth-place finish at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Saturday night. The No. 1 driver rallied from one-lap down to earn the top-five finish in the first playoff race.
USA Network will broadcast Sunday’s race at 3 p.m. ET.
Trackhouse Racing PR
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