Trackhouse gets 2 cars into Top-10 at Texas

FORT WORTH- Trackhouse Racing has reason to celebrate leaving Texas after multiple cars finisihed inside the Top-10 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. 

It’s the first time since Las Vegas that Trackhouse has accomplished the feat. Ross Chastain very nearly won but settled for a second-place finish, while Daniel Suarez rounded out the Top-10 in 10th.

After the caution mania that was the final stage, with six cautions in the final 60 laps, compared to six in the 210 laps before, Chastain and Suarez restarted third and sixth when the field went green in overtime.

Chastain drove around Ryan Blaney for second, while Suarez dropped to 10th. 

Neither Chastain or Suarez earned any stage points throughout the day. Attrition helped elevate them after they started outside of the top-20.

Chastain elevated himself with grit and was candid with his disdain.

“Just no confidence in the car yesterday, and we all saw that and just the speed of the Trackhouse cars on Saturdays is terrible. We’re just not confident, all three drivers,” Chastain said.

Chastain said an adjustment changed everything for him.

“There was one pit stop today that Phil Surgen and the group — it takes a ton of people back at Trackhouse and on the box here, at GM and Chevrolet — and they made me a confident driver all of a sudden with one adjustment, and it was small stuff. It doesn’t even make sense, but after that, I was a confident driver,” Chastain said, adding they also overcame a jack breaking. “I can’t drive an uncomfortable car. I can’t personally. So, as soon as I got it comfortable or at least gave me some confidence, we started going forward.”

Shane Van Gisbergen ran in the back all day, but ended up finishing 22nd.

“Thanks to my 88 crew for never giving up and continuing to work to make my Chevrolet better and better,” Van Gisbergen said. “We will learn from this and continue to make improvements.” 

With seven different winners, Chastain now sits 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, +53 to the cutline. Suarez leaves Texas 25th in the standings, -34 to the cutline. It’s not a must-win scenario for either driver, but a win would certainly be the ideal scenario for both cars. 

Chastain has been sneakily hot as of late. From Las Vegas till now, he’s finished outside the top-10 just twice. If you consider Atlanta until now, he’s only finished worse than 12th twice. He’s been quietly one of the most consistent cars in the Cup Series garage, but has yet to convert the solid runs into wins. 

Next week could serve as a big one for Chastain, as he won last fall’s race at Kansas Speedway. A win would solidify his spot in the playoffs and give Trackhouse the ability to focus on getting Suarez into the playoffs by stealing a win somewhere between now and the end of the regular season. For Van Gisbergen, it’s about getting a road course or drafting track win.

The Advent Health 400 from Kansas Speedway is slated for next Sunday with the green flag set to fly at 3 p.m. ET.