Skip to main content
Join Now
NASCAR Logo

Ross Chastain steals Coca-Cola 600 from William Byron, smashes watermelon to celebrate Charlotte win

JHby: Jonathan Howard05/26/25Jondean25
Ross Chastain Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR
Screenshot credit: Sports on Prime via X.com

William Byron led 283 laps tonight, but it was all for naught! Ross Chastain steals the race late and smashes a melon at Charlotte! The first Crown Jewel win in the NASCAR Cup Series for Chastain and his first win of the 2025 season.

Ross Chastain started in the back of the field. He had to go to a backup car after wrecking in practice on Saturday. His team was up until 2:30 AM ET this morning and only had three hours of sleep. After 600 miles, Chastain puts that car in Victory Lane.

Trackhouse Racing finally gave Chastain a car with speed. He made the most of it tonight. Heartbreak for Byron, elation and joy for Chastain and the No. 1 team. He started P40, dead last, and he walks away P1.

Canā€™t forget the watermelon smash, either. Chastain caps it off with his signature move.

This race looked like it was going to come down to William Byron and Denny Hamlin. Then Hamlin had a fuel issue where he didnā€™t get enough gas in the car on his final pit stop. That is the second time that has happened in the last two months. He had a similar issue at Talladega.

With Hamlin out of the picture. Ross Chastain had his eyes set on Byron. He started to run him down, and the speed he was able to find was amazing. Byron tried to defend, but he was on the defense too much. With Joey Logano and Hamlin being lapped cars, Byron got into a tough spot, and it opened the door for Chastain.

Six laps left, Chastain went to the lead and didnā€™t look back. He drove that backup car like he stole it. Post-race coverage on Prime Video. Enjoy it, NASCAR fans.

Ross Chastain earns first Crown Jewel win of NASCAR career

This is not just any other win. Ross Chastain has won five times before. Heā€™s won at Talladega before. He had that dominant win at Nashville in 2023. Chastain even upset the Championship 4 at Phoenix two years ago, the only non-championship driver to win that final race.

However, tonight is the biggest. He didnā€™t have to lead 100+ laps. All he had to do was get to the finish before anyone else. To have a Coca-Cola 600 win, a Crown Jewel, checks something off of his bucket list in a way that no other race can. This is the race that tests drivers to their fullest, and Chastain found himself in Victory Lane at the end.

I canā€™t help but think about my conversation with Josh Wise last Monday, the trainer behind the Chevrolet development program. The work that Chastain has done out of the car, the miles he runs, the weight room sessions, the hours in the sauna ā€“ all of that went into the win tonight.

To start dead last and to get to the lead over the course of 600 miles, thatā€™s special. Ross Chastain did it the hard way today, and this is a win that he is going to remember for the rest of his life. It is perhaps a career-defining win, up to this point, at least.