Last week’s Coca-Cola 600 race winner Ross Chastain arrived for his Nashville Superspeedway press conference Saturday still wearing a smile – and his winner’s ring – from Sunday’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The 32-year-old Floridian turned in one of the most dramatic wins in recent history in the sport’s longest race, rallying from last place on the grid (40th) to Victory Lane. Chastain beamed acknowledging the ring on his finger, and said it was purposeful – providing continued motivation in a season that he hopes kicks into gear now at the official midpoint of the regular season calendar and at a track where he’s won before (2023).
“We have a ‘first win’ ring that we had made at Trackhouse from COTA,’’ Chastain said of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the Austin, Texas road course.
“[Former team owner] Matt Kaulig had win rings made from Daytona in the Xfinity series and now this one. It’s a pretty cool collection. I’m not a big ring guy. I’m not a jewelry guy. But these just have so much meaning in it. It says ‘Champion’ and it says, ‘Coca-Cola 600 2025’.
“Definitely going to take it off now for practice,” he continued. “But it has been motivation this week because this week was a grind. And sometimes I just had to touch the ring and be like – okay, smile, go to the next thing, make the next flight, get home, like all the stuff.”
With the victory, Chastain has now earned his entry into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. It marked only the third top five showing of the season for the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team, but the second in three races after Chastain’s runner-up effort in Texas. The win moves Chastain up to eighth place in the championship standings, one of eight drivers with a victory through the first 13 races.
