Who… should you be talking about after the race?
This hasn’t been an easy year for Ross Chastain. While his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez won a race and made the playoffs, Chastain just missed the cut and had not visited victory lane except to congratulate Suarez.
Until Sunday.
Chastain started an unremarkable 20th at Kansas Speedway and spent the first half of the race working his way into contention. He didn’t score any stage points, but he was able to use a caution late in stage two to his advantage. When the leaders stayed out for the stage points they needed, Chastain and others took to the pits and positioned themselves for the final stretch of the race.
Chastain first took the lead on lap 177, and in the final 90 laps, he led five times for 52 laps. Chastain’s battle of wills with Kyle Busch before the final round of pit stops was one for the ages. Chastain took over the lead for the last time with 20 to go and held off William Byron to win the Hollywood Casino 400 for his first victory of 2024 and the fifth of his career.
And don’t forget Martin Truex Jr. Truex’s third-place finish snapped a string of finishes of 20th or worse dating back to Pocono Raceway in mid-July. His third-place finish Sunday (Sept. 29) is his first top five since the spring race at Kansas back in May.
Truex stumbled into the playoffs and made a hasty first-round exit, but he can still end his career on a high note when the season wraps up in Phoenix this fall, and Sunday was a step in that direction.
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
For a time on Sunday, it looked like he’d put the questions to bed. After waging a battle royal and leading five times for 26 laps, Kyle Busch was on his way to putting some questions to bed at last. Instead, a brush with the wall while racing Chase Briscoe took Busch out of contention, another stroke of bad luck in a season littered with them.
Richard Childress Racing as a whole has struggled in 2024. Austin Dillon managed a win, but he missed out on the playoffs because he intentionally wrecked two cars to get the victory. Dillon is 28th in points, Busch 20th. For the 39-year-old Busch, it represents his least productive full-time year ever.
Will Busch extend his annual win streak to 20 years?
The frustrating part of it all is that he can. He’s good enough to…
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