With two races remaining before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Ross Chastain and the No. 1 Worldwide Express team head to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Watkins Glen is the fifth road course of the season and Chastain and Trackhouse have both had success on the left and right handed turn tracks.
Chastain earned his first career Cup Series victory at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) road course in Austin, Texas on March 27 when he led 31 laps and won a thrilling three-car battle on the final lap.
At the second road course race of the season in Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway on June 12, Chastain finished seventh, followed by fourth at Road America in Wisconsin, and 27th at the Indianapolis road course after he battled for the win in the final laps.
Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez won on the road course at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June.
This weekend, both drivers will have a new teammate in Kimi Räikkönen. Räikkönen a native of Finland and Formula 1 Champion, will drive the No. 91 entry for Trackhouse’s PROJECT91 at the New York road course.
In 24 Cup Series starts this season, Chastain has two wins – COTA and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, 10 top-fives, 14 top-10s and 583 laps led.
Last weekend at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, Chastain qualified second, won the first stage and led 80 laps in the 400 lap race.
Before Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen, Chastain will climb behind the wheel of the No. 92 for DGM Racing in the Xfinity Series. The Alva, Florida native will use Saturday afternoon’s Xfinity race to hone his road racing skills for Sunday. Chastain has piloted the No. 92 entry twice so far this season. He led laps at COTA and finished fourth at the Indianapolis road course.
USA Network will broadcast Saturday’s Xfinity race at 3 p.m. ET and Sunday’s Cup race at 3 p.m. ET.
Ross Chastain, Driver of the No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet
What makes Watkins Glen different from the other road courses?
“Watkins Glen is higher in grip than most places. It seems simple, but its actually more technical because there is so much grip. Its simple when it comes to the turns but that means all of the inputs are much more important. It will be hard to pass so there’s a high risk of contact when it comes to passing.”
What have your interactions with Kimi been like?
“He’s talked more in the time I’ve met with him in person, than I’ve ever heard him in all of the interviews I’ve seen (laughs) and I’ve watched him for a very long time.”
What do you enjoy about Watkins Glen?
“The history of the track carries it. You look back at how many drivers have driven there, not just in NASCAR, but all forms of motorsports. The beginnings of the Watkins Glen racing scene and where they used to race on the streets and over by the lake, that’s cool. Thinking about how many world class drivers went down the frontstretch, turned up through the esses and went through the bus stop. I hope one day to run the boot. I know we won’t do that in NASCAR, but I hope to do it one day and extract that last little bit of lap time out. The boot layout would be on my bucket list.”
