Ross Chastain: A final link in three NASCAR lineages
AVONDALE, ARIZ. – Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR operations and the No. 42 were laid to rest by Ross Chastain in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway.
Chastain finished 14th and closed out Chip Ganassi Racing’s ties to the No. 42 which date back to 1989.
In 1989, Kyle Petty debuted Felix Sabates’s No. 42 Team Sabco entry with a 4th-place finish at Atlanta.
Petty and Joe Nemechek were the only drivers to win in the No. 42 before it became the No. 01 team in 2001, after Chip Ganassi bought Team Sabco.
The number was resurrected by Ganassi in 2003 when Jamie McMurray became the first of seven drivers to pilot the No. 42 for Chip Ganassi Racing/Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing.
Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Larson, Regan Smith and Ross Chastain piloted the No. 42 after McMurray left following the 2005 season.
Between 2006 and 2021, the No. 42 went to victory lane eight times with two drivers – Kyle Larson (six wins) and Juan Pablo Montoya (two wins).
While Ross Chastain never earned a win in the No. 42, he earned as a place in a lineage of history beyond just Chip Ganassi Racing and Felix Sabates.
Three generations of the Petty family – Lee, Richard and Kyle – raced the No. 42 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Lee earned three NASCAR Cup Series championships and 53 of his 54 career wins in the No. 42.
While Richard only won twice in the No. 42, Kyle earned six of his eight career wins in the No. 42.
Kyle also cemented his place in the number’s history by being mathematically eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series title in the classic 1992 Hooters 500. Fictional racing driver Cole Trickle’s paint scheme for “Days of Thunder” was also loosely based on Kyle’s 1992 Mello Yello scheme.
With the 10th-most NASCAR Cup Series starts of any car number, the No. 42 will likely return to the sport’s premier division some day. Until then, Ross Chastain holds a place in several important lineages of NASCAR history the No. 42 encompasses.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com
One thought on “Ross Chastain: A final link in three NASCAR lineages” Leave a comment ›