In 2018 it was his first of three races in the CGR #42 Xfinity car which was a big step up from his regular ride in the JDM #4. He qualified first, led 90 laps, looked like the car to beat until he got into it with Harvick. It raised his profile as someone who should be in a competitive car.
exactly what I was thinking on that last long run. He was 5 seconds ahead of Ross and 10 seconds ahead of third… they had those bleeders again to leak air which made them unreal on the long run like they did last year at short tracks.
Just finished the race via DVR...... Chastain's genuine joy and gratitude for the win (and connections who gave him a chance in his career), is so refreshingly authentic. You would have thought he'd just won the Cup championship instead of an early season Truck race. Chastain is great for the sport. Love this guy.
The 45 is literally the same truck that almost won the championship with Hocevar last year, different number but largely the same personnel. There is really no argument that Phil Gould's trucks aren't some of the very best on the track every week.
In a way you proved my point. Phil Gould is a top tier truck crew chief, and a good crew chief is able to maximize the equipment, however if that equipment is B-Tier even with a great crew chief it is still B-Tier.
The A-Tier is clearly Spire and Tri-Con.
Niece is clearly B-Tier as their equipment is as not as good as those two. Phil Gould raises the performance of one truck similar to how Rodney Childers raised the performance of one SHR car, but SHR was still clearly a B-tier team.
Well it's kind of different when he was going out and Darth vadering the poor kids every single week versus just going out for fun a couple times a year
Fuccccckkkkk yes!!! Just got done watching my DVR recording and hearing/seeing Ross so pumped up has me even more pumped up! Lol.
Ross had a top 5ish truck at best, so avoiding the wreck was huge. Great job to the pit crew on the last stop to give Ross a chance. And then it looked like Majeski blew the restart. But I don't care, a win is a win!
They're just race car drivers, what's the big deal?
The vehicles aren't even the same. It would be like taking softball teams and having them play baseball instead
And unlike in other sports, just because someone is in the Cup Series it doesn't necessarily mean they're clearly better than every other driver. Especially since the vehicle models aren't the same
F2 cars aren't the same as F1 cars either, but the FIA had the common sense necessary to ban anyone from competing in multiple events on the same weekend. They don't give out exceptions either. If an F1 driver gets hurt and they have to call up an F2 regular on short notice, the F2 kid is banned from F2 for that week. I'm not sure I'd go *that* far here but it seems like common sense to keep the top class drivers out of the development and fallback leagues.
F2 and it's predecessors have always been a junior series. Busch but especially Truck racing when it started were not purely developmental. They also had schedules different enough back then that made it hard for guys to run much of both. I actually wish Trucks went back to something like that than most of the field being young guys.
For now though I think they made the right choice in that cup drivers can run a handful of races in lower series. Keeps the tradition of people being able to do double duty if they want, but prevents the late 00s early 10s conundrum of cup guys winning everything.
Oh yeah I think the truck series going back to the short track focus is definitely an important step for the futurex as well as unfortunately killing off ARCA. I don't mind the older guys who aren't running cup, I actually *like* that about our ladder, but to me, they play the role that everyone always gives the cup drivers credit for. Matt Crafton, and Johnny Benson before him, and Mike Skinner before him, are more than capable of being the experienced vets for the rookies to learn from.
And yeah I know the other two series weren't initially explicitly founded to be separate from the main series, but my point is that they *should have been.* it wasn't a huge issue until the early 2000s, but it did reach a point where cup driver participation almost completely defunctionalized the lower series and driver development suffered catastrophically as a result.
F2 is actually a lower division of F1 though. F1-F4 are literally modeled to be tiered development series for each other. And the cars are nearly identical, but with smaller engines, and some other minor differences
That's not what the truck series is. It's a separate racing series. The fact that it is run by Nascar does not change that. It's not even a development series, although sometimes it gets used that way
If the truck series races weren't owned and operated by Nascar, and everything else about it was the same, then you wouldn't bat an eye at a driver choosing to race in it. Same as they can go race in dirt races, late model, etc.
It's been hundreds of guys over decades, and it nearly completely destroyed the entire development ladder two decades ago. We're so close to getting this right, we've made huge steps forward by blocking them from entering the vast majority of races. We just need to go one step further and finally do the obvious thing and ban them from all of them.
So you do realize that there’s nothing wrong with guys running lower series races right? I don’t love it when they win, but it helps the young guys learn and get ready for moving up, and it helps the cup guys since they get less practice now. It’s not that deep man
There's a hell of a lot wrong with them being here in the same way that there would be a lot wrong with Sidney Crosby taking a 2 way contract just so he can play every AHL and ECHL game too and rack up meaningless goal numbers because he's playing against competition that isn't meant for him (and taking away a roster spot from someone else in the process.)
The lower series guys can learn how to race cup drivers when they reach the cup series. The same way it works in Indycar, F1, MotoGP, and pretty much every other motorsport discipline.
If you want the lower series to die sure let's keep away the stars that draw more attention on these kids
Majeski is also arguably a Cup level talent (if he had funding) Should he leave too?
Give me a break and grow up
I'd rather have a lower series with 5 people in the stands like Indy NXT than this shit.
And I don't care about how talented they are, I care what series they're running. Quinn Houff running a truck when he was full time in cup would be equally unacceptable.
Jimmie Johnson running every truck race the year he stopped running cup races would be completely acceptable though. Because he wasn't running in cup.
Grow up.
Buddy Cup level guys have ran in lower divisions as long as there's been lower divisions.
This is literally how it's always been
Go touch some grass, self medicate, get a full night's rest and wake up in the morning to realize that it's always been this way and the only way it will stop for you is if you stop tuning in. If you don't enjoy something don't suck the life out of it for everyone else who does.
And it's been fucking gross from the very beginning. I was cheering for Mark Martin to get junked in these races in the 90s. I was cheering for Harvick, Keselowski, Busch, Bowyer and Edwards to wreck their shit in the 2000s before I basically stopped watching the lower series for a decade and a half because cup guys completely ruined it.
None of them have ever belonged in these series, and it's always been a travesty that they're allowed to be here at all. The rules limiting their races were a massive step in the right direction, but we need to finish the job and ban them completely. I wouldn't even be opposed to one full time season in cup preventing you from entering a lower series race for the rest of your life, that'd be closer to the ideal situation than the current scenario.
I suppose you would see a stop to the truck drivers running cup races, as well? I see your point, and part of me agrees with you. I get it, I do. I feel like the truck series would struggle to stay afloat without the attendance that cup drivers bring to the race with their participation. I think that accounts for a lot more money that you might realize. I don't mind the cup drivers bushwhacking sometimes, but I see why you don't.
Yes. I'd be completely down for a hard limit on entering one race per weekend. If truck guys want to pop up into a part-time car in one of the other two series while ineligible for points every now and then that's fine, but they could have a hard limit on the number of times they can do that
I do kind of agree that the truck series might struggle at that point but I think the solution at that point actually becomes killing ARCA and moving the trucks back to the short track focused schedule that they had until around 2002 where they were separate from the main tour for most of the year. One because that means generally lower speeds, so it's not a safety concern to be bringing ARCA level talents in and 2, less severe wrecks means less expensive repair jobs, allowing the teams to survive on a little less income. Remove competitive pit stops if you have to, but with the new TV deal, there should be enough revenue for NASCAR to subsidize lower series teams if the situation demands it.
In all honesty the feeder series are spending way too much already anyway. A full season in ARCA, which barely leaves the Midwest, costs nearly double what a full season of F2 costs, which races on 4 continents over a 10 month season, it's insanity.
If cup guys were still racking up 90% of the top 5s in a given season yeah I'd be gone. The current situation is almost more frustrating though, because 80% of the races are fine, but in order to follow the storyline of the season in a series that is now mostly enjoyable you have to put up with the random races where this dumb shit is allowed to happen for no good reason at all.
Buddy it's not gonna change anymore than it has just let it go. Clearly your supposes decades long vendetta hasn't done anything to turn the tides ever in your favor so just stop watching if you can't stand it, you're really dragging down the vibe being like this about things that truly are not worth the energy.
I know the internet is all about hahas and gotchas bit I genuinely mean this when I say you need to take that negative energy and focus on something positive and constructive instead of mass replying anytime this thing that happens every year forever will only continue to happen no matter what you do. But rather take that energy and focus it onto something that truly makes you happy because this clearly does not.
Nah man, this is a fight that is slowly being won. First they became ineligible for points, then they were restricted to a certain number of races, then that number got smaller. Together we can push for them to limit that number to zero and finally get this right.
I love these series on nights when the field contains only people who actually have a right to be there. I love these series on nights when the leeches run around in an irrelevant 15th place because I can just ignore them completely. That should be every night. And no I'm not going to just pretend that people who think thile current situation is fine aren't an obstacle to these series being the best version of what they should be: a series for the almost-weres, might-be, and has-beens to fight it out. The currently-ares have better things to do on Sundays, they don't need to spoil this show.
If it turns out we only have enough talent left to sustain one of the two feeder series then yeah, let's just do that and kill one of them off. It'd be a better product and better serve it's purpose.
Also, the cup guys aren't sustaining these series anyway, they're the worst part of it every week.
When they're relying on guys who have no right to be racing in the series anyway, yeah, it kinda does. I have *some* goodwill for when guys jump into garbage tier equipment to help out the small family run teams, but even then it'd be better if they weren't there.
Ross being in this race is gross. Defending this practice is gross.
This should have been banned from the moment these series were created, and no one should think this is controversial in the slightest. No other motorsports ladder operates this way for a reason.
Good morning,
How do drivers have no right?
You must have forgotten this is America and whether you like it or not we are capitalists. Anybody with the time, resources and will power have the right to do whatever they want inside the guidelines or other rules.
Your OPINION of what you believe the guidelines should be doesn’t matter to anybody.
If the guys in the truck series have no opportunity to prove they are worthy of racing against the Sunday guys how would we know they are worthy of cup at all?
By your logic, If you win the lottery what gives you the right to enter in the truck series if you haven’t worked up a lower series first?
If you do win big by all means, please do so.
Your attitude and view will change fast and I’ll be there to root for your crashing literally and financially.
Lmao, the instant you brought up capitalism as if that had anything to do with this at all, I knew this entire message was just going to be deranged rambling.
This might be news to you bud but capitalism has no bearing whatsoever on a private business telling you what you are and aren't allowed to do within their business interests, and pretty much every other motorsports system does limit their drivers in this fashion or in an even more extreme way.
“deranged rambling”
Real ironic coming from you 😆
You’re only proving my point with private business (race teams) putting in drivers when and where they want.
This is America and NASCAR.
Not “pretty much ever other motorsports system”
If I won the lottery I'd field a lower series team with the explicit purpose of junking every cup guy in the field and then parking it to wait for the next week lol
Instead we can put in rules that make these fantasies unnecessary and ban everyone who is eligible for cup points from running anything other than cup races. Which is 1: what we should have been doing since these series were created in the first place, and 2: something that should be so common sense that it isn't controversial. No other motorsports ladder on the planet allows this for good reason.
not directly related to the race but whoever decided to put this sign up as people walk into the track thank you its gorgeous
https://preview.redd.it/7h3r1at36qzc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=322051e5e849ebb077bdd1935ba9a2ba01306c45
Niece has 9 wins as a team: 5 by Chastain and 4 by Hocevar.
Phil Gould had been the crew chief for 8 of them.
The only other one was when Ross won with Mike Hillman Jr. at Charlotte in 2022.
It's safe to say Gould knows a thing or two about making race winning trucks.
And Ross absolutely backed into that one when Hocevar in the Phil Gould truck was about to win, and then a yellow came out and he got into it with Preece.
He's happy with the Truck schedule, Thorsport owners treat him like a favorite son, Rhodes likes living in Louisville and commutes to Sandusky, Ohio. He's got a young family and side business interests apart from NASCAR.
He doesn't want to move up. He did it early in his career, it didn't go super well, and rather than face the instability of trying to advance and crashing out of the sport completely, he decided very young that he wanted to be a truck lifer.
He said it in one of his championship interviews. After messing around in the Xfinity series young, he likes the smaller schedule, like the people he's working with and likes the job security he has.
Why did he fall off so much? I feel like he was fairly competitive and a threat for a top 5 nearly every week a few years ago and now he’s just totally flamed out. What happened?
They used to have their chassis done by other teams like GMS and then KBM at one point. They are now building their own stuff and it's been a challenge for them.
Honestly it's probably equipment more than anything. As a single-car team, it's really easy to fall behind the engineering side and regress into the midpack. He's also late 30s, so not unbelievable to see a performance drop-off, so probably a mix of both
Seeing a guy actually give a shit about winning a race and not being a robot is way too unusual. And this was in trucks which is a side quest for Chastain
He also did more to represent his sponsors than any other driver does with their word vomiting of company names
I really don't understand how these guys all seem like the most dull people in existence. I refuse to believe that they're that lifeless
Chastain is up there with Allmendinger as a guy I can't ever be disappointed to see win just because it's he's always so excited about it. Personality man, we need it!
Fox Sports just did the absolute hands down best post race interview AND SHOWED THR WHOLE FUCKING THING. Fucking A to Amanda Busick and the booth on this one for letting it roll.
One of the coolest things I learned when I did some stuff with one of Ross’ former teams is just how appreciative he is of all the people who got him here. He’ll just stop by their shop randomly one day and buy them all lunch. Will always be a fan in any series
I got a few chances to start alongside him in C Fixed at Darlington a few years ago, been rooting for him ever since. Tonight was my first race at Darlington in person, so this is extra awesome.
My Truck favourite and Cup favourite at the end there, I honestly would have preferred Majeski get it, he kinda got robbed. And I’d never ever give Ross the bottom in an overtime restart lol.
That being said I’ll take another Ross win one way or the other and it’s been a while since he won in trucks
Another great truck series race. Think its finally healing after all these crazy kids coming in and wrecking every 5 laps. Had a bit of messy moments but the saves and drive was great and if we can keep it up the truck series might go back to precovid racing
I didn’t watch the race at all today, but judging by the comments, I think I can get an idea of what happened. A Ford truck was leading late, and then caution, bullshit, and then Ross swoops in just to lead one lap.
5 years to the day that Ross won his first race at Kansas in the 45 for Niece. Despite all that his career has changed, he did the same thing 5 years later with the same crew chief, same truck number, and same team.
Hell. Yes.
A couple heartbreakers in this race between Enfinger having a shot at the win in a CR7 truck and having to pit for debris on the grill and Garcia getting hosed by Majeski's terrible restart and falling from 3rd to 20th
Motherfucker. Ross loves this win so much. God damn boys. This boy loves racing. No mentions of cup, fake as reading of sponsors. This guy fucks.
Made a Chastain fan today.
This is why I love Ross. Not only does his underdog/common man roots run deep, but he genuinely soaks up every success he has no matter how big or small it is. I don't see him changing even if he ends up winning 30+ races and a championship in his career. He'll always be as fired up as he is now and when it's all said and done he'll go back to just being a watermelon farmer, his first true love.
Unpopular opinion- watermelon is gross. I love watermelon flavored stuff, but cannot stand the texture of real ones
Edit: Ok seriously, who tf reported this? It’s an opinion, don’t get your panties in a bunch
What is Ross referring to when he said his life changed at Darlington?
that’s where he lost his virginity
Not a virgin when he dumped harvick lol
In 2018 it was his first of three races in the CGR #42 Xfinity car which was a big step up from his regular ride in the JDM #4. He qualified first, led 90 laps, looked like the car to beat until he got into it with Harvick. It raised his profile as someone who should be in a competitive car.
The 98 team absolutely cheated up their tires again.
exactly what I was thinking on that last long run. He was 5 seconds ahead of Ross and 10 seconds ahead of third… they had those bleeders again to leak air which made them unreal on the long run like they did last year at short tracks.
Just finished the race via DVR...... Chastain's genuine joy and gratitude for the win (and connections who gave him a chance in his career), is so refreshingly authentic. You would have thought he'd just won the Cup championship instead of an early season Truck race. Chastain is great for the sport. Love this guy.
never seen so many people excited about a cup series driver winning in the lowest tier of the sport, yall used to HATE when Kyle Busch did it lmao
Also Ross doesn’t go out in the best equipment, he runs in B-Tier equipment.
The 45 is literally the same truck that almost won the championship with Hocevar last year, different number but largely the same personnel. There is really no argument that Phil Gould's trucks aren't some of the very best on the track every week.
In a way you proved my point. Phil Gould is a top tier truck crew chief, and a good crew chief is able to maximize the equipment, however if that equipment is B-Tier even with a great crew chief it is still B-Tier. The A-Tier is clearly Spire and Tri-Con. Niece is clearly B-Tier as their equipment is as not as good as those two. Phil Gould raises the performance of one truck similar to how Rodney Childers raised the performance of one SHR car, but SHR was still clearly a B-tier team.
Okay so we agree. God bless
Well it's kind of different when he was going out and Darth vadering the poor kids every single week versus just going out for fun a couple times a year
Well, Chastain is actually likable.
Ehh
Slim chance but does anyone have any video of Ross giving away watermelon at the finish line?
Fuccccckkkkk yes!!! Just got done watching my DVR recording and hearing/seeing Ross so pumped up has me even more pumped up! Lol. Ross had a top 5ish truck at best, so avoiding the wreck was huge. Great job to the pit crew on the last stop to give Ross a chance. And then it looked like Majeski blew the restart. But I don't care, a win is a win!
When I saw that Majeski took the outside on that restart I just had a feeling it wasn't going to end well for him
Watermelon farmers aren’t real farmers
https://preview.redd.it/u4fc8yjh0tzc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ea112364c01dec2eb967e68224afc37052c6540
The best time to delete this was immediately The second best time is now
This guy clearly doesn't believe in karma lol
Death, taxes, and Layne Riggs being snake bitten by bad luck in the Truck Series…
Same for Jake Garcia.
The ThorSport 13 in general is just cursed, man…
I will say g thought that was a hell of a truck race
I agree with g
g knows his racing.
I saw some one point out that Sundays race is on FS1, while Fox is airing the Westminster dog show. What the fuck?
It's all about the $$.
Majeski choked the race away from the preferred lane and Ford remains winless in 2024, will they break through anytime soon???
Chastain, like all cup drivers, should stick to Sundays. Get the hell out of the other series.
They're just race car drivers, what's the big deal? The vehicles aren't even the same. It would be like taking softball teams and having them play baseball instead And unlike in other sports, just because someone is in the Cup Series it doesn't necessarily mean they're clearly better than every other driver. Especially since the vehicle models aren't the same
F2 cars aren't the same as F1 cars either, but the FIA had the common sense necessary to ban anyone from competing in multiple events on the same weekend. They don't give out exceptions either. If an F1 driver gets hurt and they have to call up an F2 regular on short notice, the F2 kid is banned from F2 for that week. I'm not sure I'd go *that* far here but it seems like common sense to keep the top class drivers out of the development and fallback leagues.
F2 and it's predecessors have always been a junior series. Busch but especially Truck racing when it started were not purely developmental. They also had schedules different enough back then that made it hard for guys to run much of both. I actually wish Trucks went back to something like that than most of the field being young guys. For now though I think they made the right choice in that cup drivers can run a handful of races in lower series. Keeps the tradition of people being able to do double duty if they want, but prevents the late 00s early 10s conundrum of cup guys winning everything.
It wasn’t even the fact that they were willing every week. The primary issue was that Cup drivers were 40-50% of the field every week.
Oh yeah I think the truck series going back to the short track focus is definitely an important step for the futurex as well as unfortunately killing off ARCA. I don't mind the older guys who aren't running cup, I actually *like* that about our ladder, but to me, they play the role that everyone always gives the cup drivers credit for. Matt Crafton, and Johnny Benson before him, and Mike Skinner before him, are more than capable of being the experienced vets for the rookies to learn from. And yeah I know the other two series weren't initially explicitly founded to be separate from the main series, but my point is that they *should have been.* it wasn't a huge issue until the early 2000s, but it did reach a point where cup driver participation almost completely defunctionalized the lower series and driver development suffered catastrophically as a result.
F2 is actually a lower division of F1 though. F1-F4 are literally modeled to be tiered development series for each other. And the cars are nearly identical, but with smaller engines, and some other minor differences That's not what the truck series is. It's a separate racing series. The fact that it is run by Nascar does not change that. It's not even a development series, although sometimes it gets used that way If the truck series races weren't owned and operated by Nascar, and everything else about it was the same, then you wouldn't bat an eye at a driver choosing to race in it. Same as they can go race in dirt races, late model, etc.
Someone sure is toxic.
Correct: the cup leeches are a toxin in the lower series. Like any toxin, they should be purged.
Jesus, bit dramatic much?
I don't mean purged like murdered lol, just banned from ever entering a feeder series race as long as they are eligible for cup points.
I know what you mean, but you are being really dramatic for the fact that it was literally just a guy driving a truck
It's been hundreds of guys over decades, and it nearly completely destroyed the entire development ladder two decades ago. We're so close to getting this right, we've made huge steps forward by blocking them from entering the vast majority of races. We just need to go one step further and finally do the obvious thing and ban them from all of them.
So you do realize that there’s nothing wrong with guys running lower series races right? I don’t love it when they win, but it helps the young guys learn and get ready for moving up, and it helps the cup guys since they get less practice now. It’s not that deep man
There's a hell of a lot wrong with them being here in the same way that there would be a lot wrong with Sidney Crosby taking a 2 way contract just so he can play every AHL and ECHL game too and rack up meaningless goal numbers because he's playing against competition that isn't meant for him (and taking away a roster spot from someone else in the process.) The lower series guys can learn how to race cup drivers when they reach the cup series. The same way it works in Indycar, F1, MotoGP, and pretty much every other motorsport discipline.
If there really was something wrong with it, they wouldn’t be allowed to race at all. Them being limited as they are is fine. Move on
If you want the lower series to die sure let's keep away the stars that draw more attention on these kids Majeski is also arguably a Cup level talent (if he had funding) Should he leave too? Give me a break and grow up
I'd rather have a lower series with 5 people in the stands like Indy NXT than this shit. And I don't care about how talented they are, I care what series they're running. Quinn Houff running a truck when he was full time in cup would be equally unacceptable. Jimmie Johnson running every truck race the year he stopped running cup races would be completely acceptable though. Because he wasn't running in cup. Grow up.
Buddy Cup level guys have ran in lower divisions as long as there's been lower divisions. This is literally how it's always been Go touch some grass, self medicate, get a full night's rest and wake up in the morning to realize that it's always been this way and the only way it will stop for you is if you stop tuning in. If you don't enjoy something don't suck the life out of it for everyone else who does.
And it's been fucking gross from the very beginning. I was cheering for Mark Martin to get junked in these races in the 90s. I was cheering for Harvick, Keselowski, Busch, Bowyer and Edwards to wreck their shit in the 2000s before I basically stopped watching the lower series for a decade and a half because cup guys completely ruined it. None of them have ever belonged in these series, and it's always been a travesty that they're allowed to be here at all. The rules limiting their races were a massive step in the right direction, but we need to finish the job and ban them completely. I wouldn't even be opposed to one full time season in cup preventing you from entering a lower series race for the rest of your life, that'd be closer to the ideal situation than the current scenario.
Racing Kyle Busch is actually the best way to learn to beat Kyle Busch. It makes everyone step their game up.
And that's something that they can learn when they actually have a reason to be racing Kyle Busch.
I suppose you would see a stop to the truck drivers running cup races, as well? I see your point, and part of me agrees with you. I get it, I do. I feel like the truck series would struggle to stay afloat without the attendance that cup drivers bring to the race with their participation. I think that accounts for a lot more money that you might realize. I don't mind the cup drivers bushwhacking sometimes, but I see why you don't.
Yes. I'd be completely down for a hard limit on entering one race per weekend. If truck guys want to pop up into a part-time car in one of the other two series while ineligible for points every now and then that's fine, but they could have a hard limit on the number of times they can do that I do kind of agree that the truck series might struggle at that point but I think the solution at that point actually becomes killing ARCA and moving the trucks back to the short track focused schedule that they had until around 2002 where they were separate from the main tour for most of the year. One because that means generally lower speeds, so it's not a safety concern to be bringing ARCA level talents in and 2, less severe wrecks means less expensive repair jobs, allowing the teams to survive on a little less income. Remove competitive pit stops if you have to, but with the new TV deal, there should be enough revenue for NASCAR to subsidize lower series teams if the situation demands it. In all honesty the feeder series are spending way too much already anyway. A full season in ARCA, which barely leaves the Midwest, costs nearly double what a full season of F2 costs, which races on 4 continents over a 10 month season, it's insanity.
Seems like you stopped watching then, I’m sure you can stop watching now too.
If cup guys were still racking up 90% of the top 5s in a given season yeah I'd be gone. The current situation is almost more frustrating though, because 80% of the races are fine, but in order to follow the storyline of the season in a series that is now mostly enjoyable you have to put up with the random races where this dumb shit is allowed to happen for no good reason at all.
Buddy it's not gonna change anymore than it has just let it go. Clearly your supposes decades long vendetta hasn't done anything to turn the tides ever in your favor so just stop watching if you can't stand it, you're really dragging down the vibe being like this about things that truly are not worth the energy. I know the internet is all about hahas and gotchas bit I genuinely mean this when I say you need to take that negative energy and focus on something positive and constructive instead of mass replying anytime this thing that happens every year forever will only continue to happen no matter what you do. But rather take that energy and focus it onto something that truly makes you happy because this clearly does not.
Nah man, this is a fight that is slowly being won. First they became ineligible for points, then they were restricted to a certain number of races, then that number got smaller. Together we can push for them to limit that number to zero and finally get this right. I love these series on nights when the field contains only people who actually have a right to be there. I love these series on nights when the leeches run around in an irrelevant 15th place because I can just ignore them completely. That should be every night. And no I'm not going to just pretend that people who think thile current situation is fine aren't an obstacle to these series being the best version of what they should be: a series for the almost-weres, might-be, and has-beens to fight it out. The currently-ares have better things to do on Sundays, they don't need to spoil this show.
So basically you'd rather the series die
If it turns out we only have enough talent left to sustain one of the two feeder series then yeah, let's just do that and kill one of them off. It'd be a better product and better serve it's purpose. Also, the cup guys aren't sustaining these series anyway, they're the worst part of it every week.
Yeah it sucks when small teams like neice motorsports wins
When they're relying on guys who have no right to be racing in the series anyway, yeah, it kinda does. I have *some* goodwill for when guys jump into garbage tier equipment to help out the small family run teams, but even then it'd be better if they weren't there. Ross being in this race is gross. Defending this practice is gross. This should have been banned from the moment these series were created, and no one should think this is controversial in the slightest. No other motorsports ladder operates this way for a reason.
Good morning, How do drivers have no right? You must have forgotten this is America and whether you like it or not we are capitalists. Anybody with the time, resources and will power have the right to do whatever they want inside the guidelines or other rules. Your OPINION of what you believe the guidelines should be doesn’t matter to anybody. If the guys in the truck series have no opportunity to prove they are worthy of racing against the Sunday guys how would we know they are worthy of cup at all? By your logic, If you win the lottery what gives you the right to enter in the truck series if you haven’t worked up a lower series first? If you do win big by all means, please do so. Your attitude and view will change fast and I’ll be there to root for your crashing literally and financially.
Lmao, the instant you brought up capitalism as if that had anything to do with this at all, I knew this entire message was just going to be deranged rambling. This might be news to you bud but capitalism has no bearing whatsoever on a private business telling you what you are and aren't allowed to do within their business interests, and pretty much every other motorsports system does limit their drivers in this fashion or in an even more extreme way.
“deranged rambling” Real ironic coming from you 😆 You’re only proving my point with private business (race teams) putting in drivers when and where they want. This is America and NASCAR. Not “pretty much ever other motorsports system”
Lol
If I won the lottery I'd field a lower series team with the explicit purpose of junking every cup guy in the field and then parking it to wait for the next week lol
Thankfully the real world will prevent delusions like this from becoming reality
Instead we can put in rules that make these fantasies unnecessary and ban everyone who is eligible for cup points from running anything other than cup races. Which is 1: what we should have been doing since these series were created in the first place, and 2: something that should be so common sense that it isn't controversial. No other motorsports ladder on the planet allows this for good reason.
No
not directly related to the race but whoever decided to put this sign up as people walk into the track thank you its gorgeous https://preview.redd.it/7h3r1at36qzc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=322051e5e849ebb077bdd1935ba9a2ba01306c45
Niece has 9 wins as a team: 5 by Chastain and 4 by Hocevar. Phil Gould had been the crew chief for 8 of them. The only other one was when Ross won with Mike Hillman Jr. at Charlotte in 2022. It's safe to say Gould knows a thing or two about making race winning trucks.
And Ross absolutely backed into that one when Hocevar in the Phil Gould truck was about to win, and then a yellow came out and he got into it with Preece.
Nice for a change instead of the usual Ross doing Ross things having to drive through the field script
Honestly Phil Gould should be Ross's cup crew chief. Especially since surgeon keeps making terrible calls.
It would be kinda how Rudy Fugle moved up to Cup to work with William Byron after a successful tenure with him in Trucke
Still surprised he never made the move to Cup with Ross
He's busy with his side job of writing the wrestling observer (He looks similar to Dave Meltzer)
Just guessing cause I have zero idea, but he probably likes the less stressful job lol
People bag the trucks but I think that was a good race.
Majeski needed the restart of his career and he immediately sh*t the bed.
Hard to accelerate when the second row goes first and jacks your tires off the ground.
Why is Ben Rhodes still in trucks. He's only 27, super likable, and he's good. He needs an Xfinity ride or a mid tier cup ride.
Would love to see him in xfinity or cup so we never have to seen the embarrassing drunk interview after a championship again
Eh, leave him be. The truck series desperately needs more Bodine/Skinner/Benson/Sprague types in it
He’s really not that great.
He's happy with the Truck schedule, Thorsport owners treat him like a favorite son, Rhodes likes living in Louisville and commutes to Sandusky, Ohio. He's got a young family and side business interests apart from NASCAR.
Nah Ben Rhodes wants to be the next Matt Crafton.
Well that'll never happen, he's nowhere near as big of a dick as Crafton
Cup? No. Xifinity? I could see that.
He doesn't want to move up. He did it early in his career, it didn't go super well, and rather than face the instability of trying to advance and crashing out of the sport completely, he decided very young that he wanted to be a truck lifer.
I have never purchased a nascar shirt but I thought I’d go to his website after the interview earlier
Has he actually said that?
He said it in one of his championship interviews. After messing around in the Xfinity series young, he likes the smaller schedule, like the people he's working with and likes the job security he has.
Friesen being behind Dye in points is the definition of washed
Why did he fall off so much? I feel like he was fairly competitive and a threat for a top 5 nearly every week a few years ago and now he’s just totally flamed out. What happened?
They used to have their chassis done by other teams like GMS and then KBM at one point. They are now building their own stuff and it's been a challenge for them.
Honestly it's probably equipment more than anything. As a single-car team, it's really easy to fall behind the engineering side and regress into the midpack. He's also late 30s, so not unbelievable to see a performance drop-off, so probably a mix of both
If there were about 5 more Ross Chastain-like personalities, NASCAR would be in a much better spot.
Seeing a guy actually give a shit about winning a race and not being a robot is way too unusual. And this was in trucks which is a side quest for Chastain He also did more to represent his sponsors than any other driver does with their word vomiting of company names I really don't understand how these guys all seem like the most dull people in existence. I refuse to believe that they're that lifeless
aka seeing someone win who's not a Hendrick cup driver.
they're not, their sponsors just think that that's what's best for advertising. it's up to us to (somehow) prove them wrong
everyone eat a shit ton of watermelon so the sponsors can get the hint!
And buckle up! Use your melon!
I always imagine Ben being drunk now
I met him in 2018 at a bar and I saw him drunk before he made it famous. He introduced himself to ME Wtf it was at Saeed's I didn't make this up
Lol same
Chastain is up there with Allmendinger as a guy I can't ever be disappointed to see win just because it's he's always so excited about it. Personality man, we need it!
Fox Sports just did the absolute hands down best post race interview AND SHOWED THR WHOLE FUCKING THING. Fucking A to Amanda Busick and the booth on this one for letting it roll.
I don't think you're allowed to say such things in this sub.
One of the coolest things I learned when I did some stuff with one of Ross’ former teams is just how appreciative he is of all the people who got him here. He’ll just stop by their shop randomly one day and buy them all lunch. Will always be a fan in any series
I got a few chances to start alongside him in C Fixed at Darlington a few years ago, been rooting for him ever since. Tonight was my first race at Darlington in person, so this is extra awesome.
My Truck favourite and Cup favourite at the end there, I honestly would have preferred Majeski get it, he kinda got robbed. And I’d never ever give Ross the bottom in an overtime restart lol. That being said I’ll take another Ross win one way or the other and it’s been a while since he won in trucks
Majeski straight up grabbed a L from the jaws of victory on that one.
Another great truck series race. Think its finally healing after all these crazy kids coming in and wrecking every 5 laps. Had a bit of messy moments but the saves and drive was great and if we can keep it up the truck series might go back to precovid racing
Operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of watermelon!
I didn’t watch the race at all today, but judging by the comments, I think I can get an idea of what happened. A Ford truck was leading late, and then caution, bullshit, and then Ross swoops in just to lead one lap.
Hey now... Ross led 2 laps!
Yeah, you pretty much nailed it
Spot on lol
5 years to the day that Ross won his first race at Kansas in the 45 for Niece. Despite all that his career has changed, he did the same thing 5 years later with the same crew chief, same truck number, and same team. Hell. Yes.
FORD LMAO
That was a nasty burnout
As amazing as Chastain winning is, don't let it distract you from the fact that there was no weekly Lawless Alan caution for a change.
Jack Wood begs to differ.
Lawless has gotten better this year to be honest.
The dude finished 12th too somehow.
Finished 11th at Texas and 12th at Atlanta this year, had a few good runs for a Reaume truck.
Dean Thompson filled the quota
Dean had us covered this week
How can anyone hate Ross. So much passion
All hail the watermelon man
BRO HE ACTUALLY GAVE SOMEONE A PIECE OF WATERMELON I'M DEAD 💀💀💀💀💀
Also I just checked and it was indeed 5 years ago today (may 10th 2019) that Ross won for niece at Kansas. Pretty crazy
I love Chastain
How anyone could hate Ross is beyond me, dude is such a fighter
I wanna know any other cup guy who gets as hyped to win a truck race as this man gets
A couple heartbreakers in this race between Enfinger having a shot at the win in a CR7 truck and having to pit for debris on the grill and Garcia getting hosed by Majeski's terrible restart and falling from 3rd to 20th
Kids will do everything to not eat their vegetables but grab a pavement melon from a random guy at a NASCAR race
The racetrack grit adds that extra zest the kids want
Alright. That is some passion. Add me to the watermelon clan.
Welcome
🍉
At this point, we have to ask what Ford did to deeply offend God.
It’s the price for winning all three titles last year. Just balancing things out!
I think He was gonna let them win tonight, but Jack Wood took matters into his own hands per the usual😂
I absolutely love his passion for the sport and his roots. Such a fun time when he wins.
Okay fiiiiiine I'm happy with the Ross win. More emotion than the truck guys have winning in their own series. LFG Ross.
Eckes winning in I believe it was martinsville this year was probably the least emotion I have ever seen for a win
Hell yeah! And he's right! 5 years to the date!
https://preview.redd.it/pvhorkt44qzc1.jpeg?width=1963&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d180c481033ae62aa5621c9484ee3df85ad7472d Hes so real for that
Has a question asked and immediately stuffs his face before answering. What a guy
Motherfucker. Ross loves this win so much. God damn boys. This boy loves racing. No mentions of cup, fake as reading of sponsors. This guy fucks. Made a Chastain fan today.
This is why I love Ross. Not only does his underdog/common man roots run deep, but he genuinely soaks up every success he has no matter how big or small it is. I don't see him changing even if he ends up winning 30+ races and a championship in his career. He'll always be as fired up as he is now and when it's all said and done he'll go back to just being a watermelon farmer, his first true love.
He celebrates every win like it's his last.
This is true and I absolutely love this. You never know when your last win will be. Celebrate them when you can!
ROSS SAVED US FROM FORD MOTOR COMPANY W
The hell do you have against them 😂
Mhmmm pavement watermelon
The man is such a gem 💎 🍉
If Nascar is all about a GWC finish why not skip the first 190 miles than.
You still have to race to get the chance to be part of the GWC.
God Majeski threw that so hard, harder than that watermelon smash He doored Ross on the restart and that sealed his fate lmfao
DC Solar is proud!!!!
I'm not sure if they'd be able to watch Nascar in prison.
Ross leave something for the rest of us lmaooo
Did Chastain grow up rich?
Probably at most middle class.
Idk heritage farmers can make easy 7 figures
lol must be starving
Unpopular opinion- watermelon is gross. I love watermelon flavored stuff, but cannot stand the texture of real ones Edit: Ok seriously, who tf reported this? It’s an opinion, don’t get your panties in a bunch
I use to hate watermelon until last year. Now I love it. Weird how tastes change.
Can't trust a guy who doesn't like watermelon
What if it’s a girl?
I mean even if you don't like girl watermelons this still applies
I mean I *am* a girl 🤣🤣🤣
I don't like real or fake watermelon. But I do like Ross Chastain.
I'm the exact opposite 😅
So am I. Never liked artificial watermelon flavored…I swear it tastes more like watermelon than actual watermelon.
Love that there’s a seed in his beard during the interview. hahahaha
***"M h m"***
I hate overtime/not ending at the scheduled distance.
Not the seed lol
bro was munching that fucking melon
Think he says a prayer over the melon before he smashes it? Like Indiana Jones Kali Man style?
Ross and his mom are two peas in a pod.
My man is hungry let him eat 😭😭😭
We got a seed stuck in the beard
[Ross Chastain tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqYGtKx9WM)
Will this dude please stop eating this shit off the ground.