Justin Marks compares Ross Chastain's growth to young Brad Keselowski after Coke 600 win

It felt like a couple of years ago, Ross Chastain was the wrecking ball of the NASCAR Cup Series. Now he’s a Coca-Cola 600 winner. His team owner, Justin Marks, poured tons of praise on his premier driver at Trackhouse Racing.

Ross Chastain is the first driver in the modern era to officially start a race in last place to go on to win. He did it on one of the biggest stages in the sport. First race on streaming, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the booth, Carl Edwards trackside, and over 600 miles in a backup car. On top of that, he did it by taking down the No. 24, William Byron.

With wins in each of the last four seasons, six wins in total, Chastain has gone from plucky upstart to contender. Trackhouse and Justin Marks know they have a special talent in the 32-year-old driver.

After the race, Marks was asked what is different about Chastain now than two, three years ago. He made an apt comparison.

“It’s experience and understanding what it takes to be successful as a NASCAR Cup Series driver,” Marks explained in the media center after the win. “I think if you look back through time and you look at some of these really, really talented people that have shown up in the Cup Series and just had all this talent and all this speed but not a lot of experience, sometimes it was problematic at the beginning.

“I think of, like, Brad Keselowski and some of these guys that showed up and ruffled some feathers and then they figured out how to settle into a place where they can harness their talent and their speed into a way that’s really productive in the races.”

Justin Marks knows he has a special driver. The development of Ross Chastain the last four years has been a game-changer.

“I think that’s the evolution that Ross has gone through is that he knows how to take that speed and deploy it when it makes the most sense and how to really put full races together,” Marks explained. “I think it just comes with time and experience. He’s a very, very intelligent person. He’s very cerebral. He really digests the races when they’re over and looks back through them. I think he just had to go through the experience of understanding where the give and take is and how to be a complete driver, and he has done that.”

When you look at his body of work at Trackhouse, he’s the only ECR Engines driver consistently winning races. After Kyle Busch stopped winning in 2023, it has been Chastain carrying the banner for that engine department.

Yes, Kaulig Racing has had a win with AJ Allmendinger in that time. Austin Dillon won a race last year. Shane van Gisbergen won at Chicago. But when you talk about the big ovals, where speed is what matters most, it has been Ross Chastain.

Since 2023, Chastain has won at Nashville, Phoenix, Kansas, and now Charlotte. While RCR, Kaulig Racing, and the other Trackhouse drivers have struggled to find wins, Chastain has willed his way to victory lane.

So many great drivers were annoyances at first. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and the list goes on. Ross Chastain is well on his way to joining that list. Let’s not forget he upset the 2023 Championship 4. Let him get back to Phoenix as one of those four, and he may refuse to be denied.

Chastain is eighth in points, has a win, seven top-10s, and is demanding more from his team each week. He is a leader and has backed it all up on the track so far in 2025.