When you make NASCAR change up their rules, then you get to do cool stuff. Ross Chastain was back at Martinsville this week. Trackhouse Racing decided to take a big financial loss and preserve the car from the race itself, meaning they lost an entire car from last year to now.
However, there are times when history and preservation outweigh the costs. NASCAR is a sport that leans so heavily on its history. It pays homage to the heroes and villains of the past whenever it can…
No matter where he goes from here, Ross Chastain will always be the “Hail Melon” guy. The one who put it in video game mode and drove his car into the wall on purpose and came out on the other side successfully.
This piece of wall next to that No. 1 Chevy Camaro from 2022 is going to make for one hell of an exhibit in Charlotte.
Before Ross Chastain removed the wall with his properly branded Kubota tractor, he made sure to sign it. That wall is going to sit somewhere and be admired and looked at for years to come. With the way Trackhouse Racing has been going, Chastain might earn his way to being Most Popular Driver one day.
The NASCAR driver and 2022 runner-up in the Cup Series was gifted a piece of the wall that he got to take home. That is better than any trophy that you can get at any track. I dare say, even cooler than a grandfather clock.
Ross Chastain Has Big Dreams in Racing
Things moved kind of quickly for Ross Chastain over the last two years. He went from not knowing if he’d be a Cup Series driver at all to being one of the best last season. Not to mention his antics that earned him a piece of the Martinsville wall.
Of course, Chastain loves NASCAR. He has a lot to prove still in stock car racing and wants to rise to the top level of the sport. He leads the NASCAR points standings and is looking to improve off of his season from last year.
His car from the Hail Melon moment and the wall itself will be preserved. With his name in NASCAR history forever, it feels like Chastain will have little to no pressure from this point forward.
This week, Ross Chastain and the Cup Series return to Phoenix where he came so close to winning a championship just months ago. Let’s see if he can find his groove in the desert.