Ross Chastain: 2025 NASCAR Driver Profile

The concern for Chastain heading into 2025 – and Trackhouse as a whole – is speed. The organization was one of the first to truly figure out the Next Gen car, and both Chastain and Suarez enjoyed career years in 2022. The team has shown flashes of brilliance since then, but has struggled to find the consistent pace it possessed in the first year and a half of the new car.

The big test for Chastain behind the wheel is continuing to show race-winning speed while not ruffling the feathers of his fellow competitors as he did in his first few years at Trackhouse. Other drivers don’t have to be friends per se, but it’s a mistake to turn them into enemies. Some might argue Chastain felt too politically correct in 2024, staying above the fray but dropping from front-running contention while doing it.

Ross Chastain career stats

If he can find that perfect balance of speed, aggression, and patience, Chastain will take the next step toward becoming an elite driver. With a dominant Phoenix win in 2023, Chastain showed he could be a darkhorse title contender if he manages to survive the minefield that is the playoffs.

In the end, though, the speed Trackhouse unloads with will either make or break Chastain’s year. If they inch back toward what they hit on in 2022, we’ll see a driver that wins multiple races and contends for the championship. But even if it’s another rebuilding year, it’s hard to count Chastain out for at least one race win and a playoff appearance. He’s that good.

The Ross Chastain file

Car: No. 1 Chevy

Team: Trackhouse Racing

Crew chief: Phil Surgen

Years with current team: 4

Best points finish: 2 (2022)

Hometown: Alva, Florida

Born: Dec. 4, 1992

Scouting report

Anonymous takes from drivers, crew chiefs, and assorted industry insiders:

“Ross has always been really fast and now he’s in fast stuff,” says a rival driver.

Another driver says, “He is Ryan Newman on steroids because he knows exactly where to place his car to prevent you from doing anything you’re trying to do.” But also noted that Chastain is fair as long as the position doesn’t have big-picture consequence.

“No one works harder in all facets of the sport,” says a team owner. “He has earned some criticism over the years for his aggression level but I don’t think there is anyone in that garage that doesn’t respect what he puts into his racecraft. Everyone knows he does his homework. He races aggressively but fair. And he’s still getting better.”

The general consensus is that Chastain is the driver everyone secretly wishes they could be sometimes because it requires a high level of what one crew chief called “IDGAF energy” when asked about him over text message. A broadcaster called him “a future superstar if Trackhouse Racing can take a step forward or if Chastain gets picked up by a championship-caliber team.”