On an evening when he began useless final and needed to drive a backup automotive, Ross Chastain drove the race of his life on Sunday to win the 66th working of the Coca-Cola 600.
After working down race chief William Byron within the closing laps, Chastain took his alternative with six laps to go, passing Byron in turns 1 and a pair of and holding off the Daytona 500 winner to attain the sixth win of his profession.
Chastain solely led eight laps to Byron’s 283, however Chastain was higher when it counted.
Chastain drove a backwards, Alan Kulwicki-esque “Polish victory lap” earlier than saluting the followers and doing his customary watermelon smash on the start-finish line.
Chastain’s victory comes the day after he crashed and follow and was unable to make a qualifying lap whereas his staff ready his back-up automotive.
“After I left the store final night time (and) sat on this automotive for the primary time, it was about 10 o’clock,” Chastain advised Prime Video. “They labored until about 2:30 (a.m.). They have been again at 5:30 this morning. I do not even know in the event that they slept getting this factor prepared.”
Driving with Chastain was the title of US Military Specialist Kevin McCrea, who handed away in June of 2020 resulting from problems associated to accidents suffered whereas McCrea was an Military paratrooper within the Nineteen Eighties.
“The McCrea household, to hold them… he (Specialist McCrea) was driving with me,” Chastain stated, pulling out an image of McCrea from his automotive. “His household is right here. That is what this weekend is all about: to consider and keep in mind those who sacrificed a lot for us.”
“The McCrea household advised me to be a sponge,” Chastain continued. “That was one thing their dad advised them quite a bit.”
Byron, Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski rounded out the highest 5, with Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson finishing the highest 10.
Different notable finishers embody Shane van Gisbergen in 14th, Kyle Busch in fifteenth, Connor Zilisch in twenty third, Tyler Reddick in twenty sixth and Ryan Blaney in thirty eighth.
Denny Hamlin didn’t tackle sufficient gasoline on his closing scheduled pit cease and completed sixteenth after having to make an extra cease within the closing laps. In the meantime, Kyle Larson completed thirty seventh after a crash ended each races of his Indy 500-Coke 600 “Double” early.
The 14th race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Collection season will happen at Nashville Superspeedway on June 1. The Cracker Barrel 400 will go inexperienced shortly after 7 p.m. ET, with protection on Prime Video, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
