Those victories enabled him to secure his first playoff berth in a year that included career highs in wins (2), top fives (10), top 10s (14) and laps led (583).

Chastain has been the sport's breakout driver on the breakout team in 2022. Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suárez, also visited victory lane for the first time this season and joins Chastain as a playoff rookie.

While Chastain and his Trackhouse teammates celebrate the season's success, they know a new season starts Sunday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway when the 10-race playoffs begin.

He knows every point will matter as four of the 16 drivers will be eliminated after the first three races. He couldn't pick a much better track to begin the playoffs. In the May Darlington race, the Worldwide Express driver led 26 laps before an accident ended his day prematurely.

He begins the playoffs with 2,020 points and ranks third out of 16 playoff drivers. He's 20 points behind first-place Chase Elliott and 20 points ahead of 16th-place Austin Dillon.

On Saturday at Darlington, Chastain will pilot the No. 48 for Big Machine Racing in the Xfinity Series. This marks Chastain's fourth Xfinity start this season. His three starts earlier this season were for DGM Racing with a best finish of fourth.

USA Network will broadcast Saturday's Xfinity race at 3 p.m. ET and Sunday night's Cup race at 6 p.m. ET.

USA Network's "Race for the Championship" Premiere's Thursday Night

Watch Ross Chastain in upcoming episodes of USA Network's "Race for The Championship." The unscripted documentary follows Chastain, teammate Daniel Suárez and other NASCAR Cup Series drivers and teams.

USA Network will premiere the new series on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.

Chastian's teammate, Suárez, will be featured prominently in the opening episode as the Cup Series ventures out to Los Angeles in February to hold its first race at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Watch The "Race for the Championship" Trailer

The series will give a behind-the-scenes look at the elite drivers and teams competing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Documenting the lives of the sport’s best on and off the track, viewers will get a rare glimpse of what it takes to balance personal relationships with the pressure to perform. Packed with action, heart and drama, this exhilarating series will offer up a taste of what it’s really like to partake in the world’s top level of stock car racing. Watch as the drivers are pushed mentally and physically to their limits, navigating a NASCAR season unlike any other – with a new car, new tracks and new challenges – for their chance to make history.

Over 10 episodes, “Race for the Championship” will tell the story of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season and playoffs.

Chastain and other drivers will attend the world premiere of the series Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Ross Chastain, Driver of the No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet

How does it feel to be in the playoffs for your first time?

"You know, I woke up on Monday morning and felt the same I have all year. I am glad about that because I was wondering if once Daytona was over if I would feel different because its the start of the playoffs. I feel like I've had a normal week so far and I'm staying in my routine. My routine is what has gotten me to this point, and I am looking forward to continuing that."

Have you received advice from anyone on how to handle the playoffs?

"I've gotten a lot of advice and a lot of opinions from people that genuinely want to help.

I'm not going to make major changes though. There's things I would like to clean up and make better, but ideally, the most egregious thing we do out of the ordinary this week is have a team lunch to kick off the playoffs."

Darlington is one of your better tracks, maybe even your best track, how does that make you feel about this weekend and it being the first race of the playoffs?

"Driving the 2.5 hours home back to Mooresville after Darlington is frustrating because you realize that you could've won if a couple of things went different or if you would would've asked for this one adjustment. In my experience, I think about how I've over driven Darlington. You really do have to go slow to go fast, but as a racecar driver, that's hard to do. We had a fast car there in the spring but everyone has had time to work on their setups and we'll have to go there and perform again."

2022 Playoff Standings Before Race 1 of 3 in Round of 16

No. 1 Honors Worldwide Express Operations Manager Kelli Petrie

For Work Force Appreciation Weekend

In conjunction with NASCAR's Work Force Appreciation day at Darlington, Ross Chastain's No. 1 Worldwide Express will carry the name of WWEX employee Kelli Petrie above the passenger side door.

Petrie has been with WWEX 16 years and enables the commercial growth of the organization by assisting key senior executives and local field teams on broad strategic initiatives.

Petrie is a dedicated WWEX employee and will attend Sunday's race with relatives.

Sunday’s initiative showcases the NASCAR industry’s appreciation to the American workforce throughout the traditional Labor Day Race Weekend.

Along with the celebrated kickoff to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Darlington Raceway will showcase opportunities for NASCAR, race teams and industry partners to pay tribute to their workforce’s tireless efforts throughout the year. Darlington Raceway will recognize the American workforce as part of pare-race ceremonies and , offer Workforce Appreciation Weekend ticket packages to organizations.

As part of the initiative, Petrie will receive the ultimate Labor Day Weekend experience at the track including an invite to the Labor Day Weekend Cookout, serve as an ‘honorary crew member’, guided tour of the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum, her name will be listed in place of Chastain's name above the right-side door, gifts from NASCAR and Darlington Raceway, and more.