By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla..— After 111 laps at Daytona International Speedway, Ross Chastain survived carnage and calamity to finish third in the NextEra Energy 250.
For majority of the race, the goal for the No. 45 team was to play it safe.
“We played it safe. We didn’t qualify where we wanted to, but that is the cards we were dealt,” Chastain said.
Chastain was able to survive the first major wreck of the evening and subsequently, the remaining wrecks of the night.
On the last lap, Chastain was lined up in third pushing Grant Enfinger with hopes that he and race winner Austin Hill would make contact to give him the opportunity to possibly win the race.
“I didn’t have enough help behind me, so I just wanted to push Grant to give them a shot to get side-by-side and take each other out, he said. “I got Grant to him, but he didn’t make a quick enough move in three. All in all, it was good night for the Niece team.”