Kevin Harvick: Putting Trackhouse on notice magnifies the bulldog in Ross Chastain

Ross Chastain burst onto the scene in the NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing, almost elevating to win the championship in 2022. Since, it’s been an uneven ride for the Alva, Florida native, but his victory in the Coca-Cola 600 this past weekend has reminded the world of his ability.

Kevin Harvick believes the questions and concerns surrounding Trackhouse over the course of the 2025 season led to Chastain finding a new gear at Charlotte Motor Speedway. When a driver has tunnel vision like the 32-year old does, the former Cup Series champion recognizes something special can brew.

“When you put him in position (to win), he doesn’t care who he makes mad. He doesn’t care about the scenario. If he’s in position, he’s going to figure out how to — he’s either going to crash, most likely, crash somebody, or he’s going to make it happen. He’s going to give everything that he has,” Harvick stated, via the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “We saw the Daytona 500 two years ago when he was in position to win that race. He’s going to go for it.

“After the race, the other thing to me — you see how much it means to him. That enthusiasm, that emotion. Everything that goes with Ross Chastain speaks to a winner. He will push the limits of everything he does on the racetrack. … Off the racetrack, he has a work ethic like nobody else. He works and works and works and works and dedicates everything that he does to putting that car in position and having the capability to win races.

“A guy like Ross has been on the other side of the fence, where he’s just trying to survive. I think that survival mentality now kind of has molded him into being in a leadership role of the team, from the driver’s perspective, and it puts him at a level that other people can’t do, because they’ve never struggled like he had to struggle.

“Chip Ganassi said it last week, he’s the guy that was driving his motorhome to the racetrack to just figure out how to get to the next step and survive … I think that Trackhouse, that organization realized that they’ve got to get it right for him. In order to get it right for him, your cars have to be capable of winning. When he put them on notice, it changed the whole direction of the team.

“The difference in performance has been so noticeable since that moment. I hope that he realizes that, because he can move the needle in making the people in his organization do things that they might not have otherwise done without him kind of kicking them in the butt.”

All told, Chastain has certainly been the flag bearer for Trackhouse in 2025. He’s P8 in the overall point standings, accumulating seven top tens, three top fives and 58 laps led in 13 races. When he has a chance to win, he’ll take it, and that’s what led Harvick’s co-host, Mamba Smith, to call him a bulldog on the track.

“He’s a bulldog. If he has a chance to take that bone, he’s going to. He’s going to win the race. You don’t want to wrestle with Ross Chastain at the end of the race,” Smith added. “I think, the thing about it is, when he was coming up and he was driving not great equipment and just trying to make it happen, you saw that same mentality transfer over to when he got into a good car.

“You’ve got to be able to harness it. It can’t be like that all the time. I think now, (he’s come) full circle. He’s had his moments — the run-in with Hendrick and all that stuff. Now, he’s able to harness it. That’s what it looks like.”

Next up for Ross Chastain is a trip to Nashville. It’s a special track for his team as a whole, and a place he’s won in the past. Perhaps back-to-back for the bulldog is on the table this coming weekend.