Trackhouse Racing’s Championship Dreams Rest on Ross Chastain’s Shoulders
Ross Chastain finds himself carrying the weight of Trackhouse Racing’s entire 2025 championship hopes as the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs enter the Round of 12. It’s a position that would make most drivers buckle under pressure, but for the 32-year-old from Florida, it’s just another challenge to tackle head-on.
The reality facing Trackhouse isn’t pretty when you look at the numbers. Chastain has led just 72 laps this season, dead last among the 12 remaining playoff drivers. To put that in perspective, Tyler Reddick, who sits just above him in laps led, has more than doubled that with 156. It’s a stark reminder of how far this team has fallen from their breakthrough 2022 season, when they seemed to crack the code on the Next Gen car.
The Golden Days Feel Like Ancient History
Remember when Trackhouse burst onto the scene? Back in 2022, they were the scrappy upstarts who figured out something the established teams hadn’t. Chastain still talks about that magical test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway before the season, when they suddenly found the grip that other teams were desperately searching for. That discovery propelled them to three wins and put them on the map as legitimate contenders.
Those days feel like a lifetime ago. Now, as Chastain bluntly puts it, “We’re not leading laps anywhere.” It’s the kind of honest assessment that stings but reflects the brutal reality of where this team stands heading into Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The transformation has been jarring. Shane van Gisbergen can still work magic on road courses—the rookie has been nearly unbeatable when the track turns left and right. But on the ovals where championships are won and lost, Trackhouse has been searching for answers that remain frustratingly elusive.
Taking on the Big Three
Chastain doesn’t sugarcoat the challenge ahead. When he talks about “the Big Three” Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing, there’s no bitterness in his voice, just acknowledgment of reality. Nine of the 12 remaining playoff drivers come from these powerhouse organizations, and they just swept the opening round with three different winners.
“The question will always be, how do you beat the Big Three?” Chastain said during a recent media session. “I think it’s just the nature of the sport and the quantity of people and the quantity of dollars. They’re cubic over there.”It’s a David versus Goliath story, but Chastain isn’t ready to concede defeat.
He points to their victory at Charlotte’s Coca-Cola 600 in May as proof they can still compete when everything clicks. The problem? Nobody at Trackhouse can explain exactly how they pulled off that magic, or more importantly, how to replicate it consistently.
Changes Behind the Scenes
Trackhouse owner Justin Marks isn’t sitting around waiting for lightning to strike twice. The team made significant moves during the summer, bringing in veteran executive Todd Meredith as president of racing operations. Meredith’s resume includes helping build the foundation of what Joe Gibbs Racing became, exactly the kind of organizational knowledge Trackhouse needs.
The driver lineup is changing, too. Daniel Suárez will move on after this season, making room for highly touted prospect Connor Zilisch to join the Cup Series ranks in 2026. That leaves Chastain as the veteran presence, the steady hand who’ll help guide van Gisbergen and Zilisch through their early years.
It’s a role Chastain seems ready to embrace. New faces around the shop are already tapping into his institutional knowledge, not just for this season but for building something sustainable for the future. “They’re leaning into me,” he explains, noting that some new hires are already focused on preparations for 2026 rather than this year’s struggles.
The Round of 12 Reality Check
Standing 11th among the remaining playoff contenders, Chastain faces the harsh mathematics of NASCAR’s elimination format. The next three races, including the New Hampshire, Kansas, and Charlotte Roval events, will determine whether Trackhouse’s championship dreams continue or come crashing down.
There are reasons for cautious optimism. Chastain participated in a tire test at New Hampshire two months ago, gaining valuable track time and data that most competitors don’t have. Kansas was the site of his lone victory in 2024, proof that he can still find magic at the 1.5-mile tracks that dominate the playoff schedule.
The Charlotte Roval presents its own opportunities. With van Gisbergen’s road racing expertise on the same team, Chastain jokes that if he can get within five seconds of his teammate’s pace, he’ll probably finish second. It’s self-deprecating humor that masks a legitimate strategy—learning from one of the world’s best road racers.
Fighting for Respect
What makes Chastain’s situation compelling isn’t just the championship implications. It’s watching a team that tasted success try to claw its way back to relevance against organizations with deeper pockets and longer histories. Every lap Chastain leads, every top-five finish he earns, becomes a statement that smaller teams can still compete at NASCAR’s highest level.
The pressure is immense. Chastain isn’t just racing for a championship. He’s racing to prove that Trackhouse deserves to be mentioned alongside the sport’s elite organizations. He’s racing to show that their 2022 breakthrough wasn’t a fluke, that they can build something lasting in a sport where money talks and tradition holds sway.
“That’s what this sport rewards is speed,” Chastain reflects. “We just want to go faster than them, and that’s what makes it so good, is when we do beat them, we deserve it.”It’s a simple philosophy that cuts to the heart of racing. Forget the politics, the money, the organizational advantages.
Final Thoughts
When the green flag drops, it comes down to who can make their car go fastest for 400 miles. Chastain and Trackhouse may not lead many laps these days, but they’ve proven they can still find that extra speed when it matters most.The Round of 12 will test everything this team has learned since its magical 2022 season. For Chastain, it’s a chance to prove that Trackhouse Racing still belongs among NASCAR’s elite. The championship dreams of an entire organization now rest on his shoulders, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
