Ross Chastain: If speed comes, 'points take care of themselves'

Many times this year, Ross Chastain has found himself falling into the clutches of a race leader who is putting him one lap down. Nine times, to be exact, Chastain has finished off the lead lap. 

But at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, Chastain and the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing group put together one of their best races of the NASCAR season. Chastain finished seventh and gained 35 points on the Chase cut line, moving up to 18th in the standings and finding himself only 47 points out of a Chase berth with three races left in the regular season. 

Ross Chastain was just happy not to get lapped

"I was just happy that I could see the leader all day," Chastain said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "I was putting cars a lap down myself that had been lapping me all year. Definitely a good feeling."

Chastain said last week that the points are of no concern to him compared to finding speed, which will inevitably come with plenty of points. That's still the mindset of the Alva, Florida, native going into Saturday's race at Richmond, where Chastain needs another solid run to gain more on the cut line. 

"If we run in the top five, take a shot to win, finish seventh on that... if we do that every week, yeah," Chastain said. "For me it's about speed, and the points take care of themselves."