By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
After a few tumultuous weeks in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Ross Chastain was able to tie his career-best finish of fourth at Iowa Speedway.
Going into the weekend at Iowa, Chastain did not have the best of luck. Since the start of 2018, Chastain has finished around the 17th position. His best finish prior to Iowa was ninth at Daytona International Speedway in February and at Bristol Motor Speedway in April.
The veteran driver was quiet through the majority of the race after qualifying in the 18th position. On lap 63, he was busted for speeding on pit road but was able to quickly rebound. Ultimately, he worked his way up towards the top-10 in the middle of the third stage.
Chastain admitted that the team has struggled the last couple of months due to accidents or overdriving the car. With a little bit of tough love from Johnny Davis, team owner, the team went to work.
“It’s my guys, I tell you. We have struggled the last couple of months. I have been overdriving and have been crashing. Johnny was hard on us; the crew and me. We had to look at ourselves. We changed some stuff, but it is just a lot of work. It’s really cool. I am proud of these guys. My guys stood behind me. We can breathe,” Chastain said post-race.
With the Playoffs approaching quickly, Chastain currently sits as the last driver above the cutoff line. He sits 40 points above the cut line over Michael Annett.
Chastain now heads to Pocono Raceway to compete in the Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.