As the ‘Melon Man Challenge’ rolls into Talladega Superspeedway, Ross Chastain will make his 300th career NASCAR National Series start.
The milestone start will take place on Saturday in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series where Chastain is a Playoff Grid driver. The Niece Motorsports driver will once again pilot the No. 45 CarShield Chevrolet Silverado in the Sugarlands Shine 250.
Talladega marks the first time that Chastain will face the unpredictability of the draft in a playoff race. The Alva, FL native starts the Round of Six with three wins. However, Chastain is 18-points behind points leader Brett Moffitt and just five points ahead of the cutoff.
Chastain admitted that there will be much out of both his and his team’s control at Talladega.
“Talladega is definitely a wild card in this playoff. There’s a lot that’s out of our control, so we’re going to focus on the things we can control. I know this team will bring a fast CarShield Chevrolet Silverado.
“We’ll do our best to stay out of trouble and put ourselves in contention at the end of the race. I enjoy superspeedway racing and am looking forward to Saturday’s race.”
In his 299 previous NASCAR starts, Chastain has just one win on a superspeedway, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year.
Despite just one superspeedway win, Chastain has developed a knack for racing in the draft. Running primarily in underfunded equipment, the 26-year-old has learned to take care of his equipment and avoid ‘the big one’ in order to still be running when the checkered flag waves.
In Truck Series, he has just three starts at Talladega. His best finish, third, came with Brad Keselowski Racing in 2013. Chastain also finished third in the season-opener at Daytona earlier this season.
Meanwhile in the Xfinity Series, six of Chastain’s 18 top-10 finishes have come on a superspeedway, all at Daytona. He also has one top-10 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona.