Ross Chastain explains Coca-Cola 600 extended celebration: 'I won and no one can tell me what to do'

Ross Chastain was everywhere and did just about everything after winning Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Polish victory lap, burnout, watermelon smash and a trip to the stands to hang out with fans.

Chastain’s celebration had it all. And if you’re bothered by Chastain’s extended celebration, just know that he doesn’t care. He won, and therefore, you can’t tell him what to do.

“I won and no one can tell me what to do,” Chastain told Steven Taranto of CBS Sports, via Chris Weaver on YouTube. “I will admit that we reached the two-hour mark a little bit ago since the finish, and they were barking at me in Victory Lane and I was a little more cordial earlier. They know, and I’ve told them in the past, when I win, I’m going to soak this in because of the times I didn’t.

“Winning Truck races or Xfinity races and then racing Cup the next day is the best thing but the worst because you can’t celebrate it and I like beer. I’d be drinking a beer whether Busch Light sponsored me or not and I would be drinking Busch Light if they sponsored me or not. So, whenever we do this, yes, I was still completely sober out there on the track, but I wanted to take it in.”

Chastain had every reason to celebrate the way he did. Not only was this his sixth career Cup Series win, but his first at one of NASCAR‘s Crown Jewels. William Byron had the dominant car, leading 283-of-400 laps. But during the final long run of the night, Chastain’s car was a rocket.

Ross Chastain triumphs over William Byron at Charlotte

He made the race-winning pass on Lap 395 thanks, in part, to Byron experiencing difficulty navigating through lap traffic. But make no mistake, this was as legitimate a win as it gets — and as difficult. Chastain went from 40th to first in 600 miles, forced to go to a backup car after crashing in practice. Chastain is the first driver to start last without a penalty and win since Richard Petty‘s triumph at Richmond Raceway in 1971, per Seth Eggert.

So, yeah, Chastain partied hard. The rules go out the window when you win and Chastain wouldn’t have it any other way.

“A Crown Jewel race like the World 600, the Coca-Cola 600 — driving around backwards, I’ve never done that in my life,” Ross Chastain said. “When I won, I thought, ‘I’m doing it.’ What Alan [Kulwicki] meant, what we started and seeing the other drivers that have paid it back and paid it forward to him of honoring him. I wanted to be a part of that. I’d never done it and now I did it. The Long burnout, I don’t know why I was spinning around, I got out and about fell. Andy ran me the watermelon out; I didn’t see him until I was stepping out of the car.

“Why I did all that? Because we won and I want to do everything I’ve seen my heroes do and also, write my own story. If you offered people in a normal setting watermelon that different people have bitten off of, nobody would do it. But in the moment, I’m eating it, they’re eating it, I’m eating it again — it doesn’t matter. When you win Cup races, the rules go out the window.”