Despite Richmond Top 5, Chastain Loses Playoff Ground

Ross Chastain in action at Richmond Raceway. (HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)

RICHMOND, Va. – The NASCAR Cup Series didn’t go off gently into the night at Richmond Raceway, following a wild and controversial conclusion to the first race back from the two-week Olympic break.

Though playoff bubble driver Ross Chastain and the No. 1 team quietly put together one of their most successful runs of the season, their efforts were somewhat diminished by a pair of standout performances.

Entering the Cook Out 400, Chastain found himself seven points to the good, holding the 16th and final playoff spot with four races remaining in the regular season. On paper, the Trackhouse Racing driver’s third top-five finish this year should’ve rewarded him with a net gain over his competitors.

Instead, the “Melon Man” is leaving Virginia three points below the cutoff with three races before the playoff reset.

To put it simply, almost everything that could’ve gone against Chastain and his chances at gaining ground toward the postseason, did.

Austin Dillon, who was previously ranked 32nd in points, bulldozed his way through Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the final corner on an overtime restart en route to a playoff berth and his fifth career Cup victory.

Not only that, but the 17th-seed going into the Richmond, Bubba Wallace, one-upped Chastain by finishing a spot ahead of him in fourth and also racking up nine stage points throughout the evening.

Although Chastain would’ve preferred to be on the other end of the points bubble, he was perfectly content with a clean and consistent, fifth-place outing. He was also pleased about not being associated with any on-track drama for once, given his past track record.

“It’s so refreshing just to run in an average position all night with a ‘1’ in front of it,” Chastain said. “To finish with a single-digit result is so refreshing right now. It’s not like we magically fixed anything, but we just had a lot more pace to do what we wanted to do compared to what we’ve been missing for a few months.”

Chastain took the green flag from 22nd, then became the biggest mover by the end of stage one in finishing 11th. From there, the No. 1 Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet challenged for positions inside the back half of the top-10, before leveling out in 12th once the second segment ended.

For just the sixth time this season, Chastain had an average running position inside the top 10. In fact, the last time he ran that consistently was at the site of his most recent top-five finish, which came at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway back in June.

While Chastain didn’t get to contribute to the statistic, the Cook Out 400 featured a record 26 lead changes. Part of this was due to the fact there wasn’t a natural caution until lap 398, but most of it was courtesy of a new tire teams were able to strategize with.

In addition to the seven sets of allotted primary tires, two sets of softer option tires were doled out, with the intention of enhancing grip and creating pace differential among cars throughout the field.

Chastain’s Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suarez was one of the first drivers to test the option tires at the beginning of stage two, and almost immediately saw the benefits. After restarting 16th, it took Suarez just 12 laps to catch the leader. He eventually won the second segment over stage one winner Christopher Bell.

Crew chief Phil Surgen made the call to put Chastain’s first set of option tires on at the start of the final stage, which enabled the Alva, Fla., driver to hang around the top 10. The plan from there was to use the final set in the event of a late caution.

“The whole night, to drive to 11th in stage one; run around there and be able to execute there late is great,” Chastain said. “We were going to run seventh with a set of (option) tires left, and it was killing me in the car that we were going to leave those in the pits. But we were able to put them on there at that green-white-checkered.”

Dillon and Wallace may have masked a quality outing by Chastain, but he and the No. 1 team did their job by executing while on the points bubble, as others around them faltered.

Chris Buescher, who was 17 points above the cutoff entering Richmond, is now three points back and tied with Chastain in the 17th spot, after a slide through his pit box during the first set of green-flag pit stops put him in an insurmountable hole and led to an eventual 18th-place finish.

Martin Truex Jr. had the largest lead among the drivers not locked into the Round of 16, but an engine failure at the start of the final stage relegated him to a last-place finish and loss of 30 points, though he’s still 78 points-to-the-good.

Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs was a non-factor all evening, winding up 22nd and now only 18 points ahead of 17th.

With three races remaining until the postseason and only three spots up for grabs, fifth-place finishes should cut it for Chastain. However, more outcomes like Dillon’s demolition derby will make it very difficult for the winner of last year’s season finale to have a shot at a third straight playoff appearance.

“It’s simple math – if we just keep stacking together finishes and pace like this, we will be just fine,” Chastain noted.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action Aug. 18 at Michigan Int’l Speedway with the FireKeepers Casino 400. Broadcast coverage is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.