Ross Chastain returns to Kaulig Racing for Xfinity Series start at Michigan
Those folks at Kaulig Racing love to win races, and this weekend they will have Ross Chastain behind the wheel of the No. 10 Chevy Camaro. Chastain is going Trophy Hunting in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with a team that he had plenty of success with. While they only won one race together back in the day, it was a very meaningful win for Kaulig and Chastain.
In 2019 and 2020, Ross Chastain was trying to find a ride any way he possibly could. If you ook at all of the Xfinity Series cars that Chastain jumped in and out of throughout the 2010s, it reveals how hard he worked to get to the Cup Series.
It was in 2019 when Chastain won at Daytona in the No. 16 Chevy for Kaulig. It was his second win in the series and the first for Kaulig. A year later he would run a full season with the No. 10 team and rack up 12 top-10s as well as an additional 15 top-5s.
It is time to bring it back now as Ross Chastain and Kaulig Racing announce they are back together. Michigan International Speedway might get covered in watermelon this Saturday.
The Cabo Wabo 250 will be a fun race for Chastain. Kauilg Racing has put a lot of different drivers in that No. 10 car this season. This season alone, Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Derek Kraus, Kyle Larson, Jordan Taylor, Justin Marks, and Daniel Suárez have all raced the 10 car.
So, with three wins on the season, can Ross Chastain get win number four? While the car has performed well at times, there have also been some hiccups. This is the fourth Xfinity Series start for Chastain this season.
Ross Chastain needs a turnaround performance
While he won at Nashville and had a strong showing in the first dozen races or so this season, things have quickly fallen off for Ross Chastain. Since that win, Ross has failed to finish better than P13 at Pocono. Finishes of P22, P35, P23, P13, and P24 in his last five races have thrown his season off the rails.
The thing is, I’m not sure if it is going to get better before it gets worse. Last season during this stretch, Chastain also struggled. Between Atlanta-2 and Daytona-2, Chastain only had one top-10 finish a year ago. He was P24 at Michigan, P27 at Indy Road Course, P21 at Watkins Glen, and P33 at Daytona.
Of course, Chastain turned things around in the playoffs and went on to make the Championship 4. However, I’m not sure he can expect to have five top-5 finishes, let alone four of them in a row like he did in 2022.
Perhaps the Xfinity Series start at Michigan will help kickstart the success once again. If Ross Chastain wants to be a championship contender, he has to start driving like it.