Somehow, Some Way, Ross Chastain Wanted to Return to Road America
(Photo credit: Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NASCAR may not be back at Elkhart Lake’s Road America, but Ross Chastain is.
Chastain, who drives for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series, is taking advantage of the Olympic break in the schedule to race in Saturday’s 120-minute IMSA Michelin Pilot Series event at Elkhart Lake’s Road America. He is teamed with co-driver Ken Fukuda, an instructor he met and worked with at the Skip Barber Racing School.
The 4.048-mile circuit has been repaved since Chastain last raced at Road America in both the XFINITY and Cup Series. Chasten noticed the difference from his last time at the track in 2022.
“Definitely some differences and less grip offline,” noted Chastain. “And the tires are different. So that goes a long way, I think, into it, but after the repave I wanted to come up here and run it. That's why if NASCAR wasn't going to come up here, I was gonna find a way. I didn't know how but this opportunity came together.”
According to Chastain, the Grand Sport class Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is a very different car from what he races in NASCAR.
“In the car, I'm driving past every brake marker I've ever learned. And I'm still wide open, and I'm still not driving deep enough. So this car, the brakes, the ABS, the tires, they just have so much more potential than our XFINITY or Cup cars ever have had here. So it's a little unnerving. And although I'm going slower getting there, for me it's just human nature to resort back to some old habits. I'm breaking those habits and Ken’s on me to drive further, push the brakes harder.”
(Photo credit: IMSA/Jak Galstad/LAT Images)
Adding to the uniqueness of this weekend’s challenge for Chastain is sharing a car with a co-driver, although it is someone he knows well.
“I did do a street stock race when I was about 14 years old back home, (a) switch off race. I was sitting on pillows because the other driver was a little bit bigger. I was a little late with my growth spurt.
“Honestly, this feels the most natural,” continued Chastain, “because Ken has instructed me before and the instructors at Skip Barber I've just got along with. That's what I tell other drivers, younger kids that are going to Skip Barber now to learn road courses and to just continue to refine their craft in NASCAR. It's not something that NASCAR drivers openly do a lot, is go get schooling. We just kind of learn on the fly and learn growing up. I just get along with everybody at Skip Barber and they just they teach me how to go faster. What is there not to love about it? And Ken is doing that here, just like he did at the class.”
Chastain’s involvement this weekend has brought added attention to the team and the series. But he says his reasons for doing the race are purely personal.
“I'm not sure from the bigger picture, I'm a little more self centered, and I only speak about me, so this is just something that I've wanted to do. I have gotten a lot of attention out of it and people on the NASCAR side telling me they were going to ask me after this weekend, what my experience was like.
“Just by being here, I just didn't grew up in it. I did not study it enough. Like I studied NASCAR before I got into the truck series. I knew everything about that, knew every driver, I knew all the procedures. Here, Ken and the Barber team have been coaching me through all the processes and how the yellow flags, the short, the long (caution periods) will work and, you know, plus or minus minutes from the beginning and the end of the race and how it works here.
“This is a really challenging experience for me. It's not like I just show up and go fast. I've never been that way. I've had to study stuff. I've had to try it over and over to get better. Some of my competitors, obviously, right, like the guys doing multiple classes across the world, are Kyle Larson. And you see him go get in an IndyCar and he's just fast. He's the best driver of my generation, of my age group. That's not me. I have to try it and continue to work at it, which I've come to enjoy. And yeah, I'm doing that this weekend. But don't think this is easy. This is a very challenging, I'm having to push myself mentally to get to the brake markers that we're trying to get to to use for the brake for what they are and the forces that they'll take. And then something like traction control. It's just so wild. I've never raced with it. So ABS, traction control, never had it growing up. Trying to use it for all that it's good with it. Make lap time.”
(Photo credit: IMSA/Michael L. Levitt/LAT Images)
While Chastain may be doing this weekend for his own reasons, Fukuyama thinks the cross-pollination is good for the sport.
“I think it's incredible. We're seeing a different type of fan, at least I am, this weekend. And so many kids too. I mean folks making their diecast models and one side has a crushed, crushed side (laughs).
“I think it's awesome and also I think it's a brave thing. He's an established figure in his series, in his wheelhouse, even though he can drive anything because he's a wheel man. But to come over here, I mean, Michelin Pilot Challenge, it’s extremely competitive, if not the most competitive series in the world. It's a premier series and it's a completely different car. And to say I don't care. I love driving, I want to learn, I want to figure this out. And he's interacting with every single fan. He spends minutes smiling, taking photos, asking them questions and it's taught me a lot about what a true pro looks like. So I think it's beautiful.”
Asked whether the NASCAR schedule was better or worse without Road America on it, Chastain didn’t hesitate.
“If NASCAR wasn't gonna come here and race when they took us back off the schedule, I told myself that I was going to get back here somehow, some way. I had years of Xfinity Series races up here. And then obviously Cup we had two different cars, we had our Gen Six car in ’21 and then in 2022 we had our new Next Gen cars. That was a cool experience to have both of those, but I just I love it and I tell them (NASCAR) and they don't listen. I just think that this is a great facility and I know there's a lot of reasons why we're not up here, but I still want to be up here.”
Update: Chastain and Fukuda finished 24th overall and 16th in the GS class Saturday. Chastain pitted from the race lead with 15-minutes remaining for fuel and to remove rear bodywork that was damaged when Fukuda was rear-ended entering Turn Five during the first half-hour of the race.