Ross Chastain

Ross Chastain found an opening at the end of the Geico 500 to slip by and score his second win of 2022.

“We’re all doing a good job of how we manage the highs and the lows,” said Trackhouse owner Justin Marks. “I don’t think we get that low, and we don’t get that high. Instead, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace worked their way to the front until the final series of green-flags stops left them, too, shuffled back in the pack. With a handful of laps left, Bubba Wallace led the outside line to the front. William Byron won stage two from his teammates Elliott and Larson for his third stage win of 2022. I’m always the one going to the top too early and making the mistake. Aggressive racing masked criticism from drivers throughout the day that passing was difficult. “I felt a lot of things that didn’t feel good, I will tell you that much,” Logano said. When leader Erik Jones opened up too large of a gap, Chastain gave Kyle Larson a huge push toward the front. The momentum for Larson threw him up on the high line. Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10. That’s where Jones threw a block, running Larson further up the track, and Chastain kept the wheel straight as chaos commenced around him. Ross Chastain is known as one of the sport’s more aggressive drivers.

Ross Chastain surged into the lead as he closed in on the checkered flag Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to steal his second career NASCAR Cup Series ...

Joey Logano was in the third row on a restart during the second stage and not even up to full speed when Bubba Wallace knocked him out of line and into the outside wall. "Honestly the first time I've had a legit shot at winning a plate race in the Cup series, so happy about that," Larson said. The Ford group was the most organized manufacturer at the season-opening Daytona 500 and used its strategy to get Cindric into victory lane. Michael McDowell in eighth was the highest-finishing Ford. "Justin Marks and what he laid out for us was ambitious. Chastain also bit into a hunk of watermelon he picked up off the ground, but this time asked on Fox Sports if any seeds had gotten stuck in his beard. "I did that a couple of times, I was like, 'I'll just ride on the bottom. This one was his first on a superspeedway, where he said he's usually the driver who makes the wrong moves. He's solidly locked into the playoffs with TrackHouse, a second-year team owned by former driver Justin Marks and Pitbull. The car is also more durable than past models, which cuts down on cautions -- even at crash-fest Talladega. The entire third stage Sunday was caution-free. Larson waited until they were exiting the final turn, and in hindsight, Jones said he should have let him go and stayed put with Chastain on his bumper. You're trying to just win the race.

The watermelon farmer wins by a tenth-of-a-second in the NASCAR's first visit to Talladega with the Next Gen car.

Larson pulled out of line to try and win the race, putting both 23XI cars in the wall in the process. Jones would pull down in front of Larson and eventually led the field on the run to the checkered flag. Larson took control at the front by swinging around the outside as Hamlin faded and eventually ran out of fuel.

Ross Chastain surged into the lead as he closed in on the checkered flag Sunday at Talladega to steal his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

And obviously the defense on (Larson) kind of (opens) the door to (Chastain). You’re just trying to win the race. “Trying to defend on (Larson), you’re too far ahead already. We started the year with a lot of races open (for funding). We’re almost full now, and it’s because of the vision of Justin Marks. The Ford group was the most organized manufacturer at the season-opening Daytona 500 and used their strategy to get Cindric into victory lane. (Sponsors are) believing in us. Joey Logano was in the third row on a restart during the second stage and not even up to full speed when Bubba Wallace knocked him out of line and into the outside wall. “It just felt good to be up front coming there in that last lap. He’s solidly locked into the playoffs with TrackHouse, a second-year team owned by former driver Justin Marks and Pitbull. Chastain that bit into a hunk of watermelon but this time asked on Fox Sports if any seeds had gotten stuck in his beard. They just kept moving out of the way.” We just stayed down there!” Chastain screamed over his radio. Chastain simply stayed in line over the final few laps as leader Erik Jones and reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson fought for the win.

Ross Chastain becomes the second two-time winner of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, snagging the victory late at Talladega Superpseedway.

… Michael McDowell, who finished ninth at Bristol dirt, picked up his second straight top-10 finish by finishing eighth at Talladega. It’s his third of the year in addition to a seventh-place finish at Daytona. … Erik Jones, who led 25 laps, finished sixth for his third top 10 of the year. Chastain had never finished better than 12th at Talladega and wins courtesy of the 30th last-lap pass in Talladega history. Who had a bad race: One week after finishing runner-up at Bristol dirt, Tyler Reddick finished 39th — dead last — at Talladega. Reddick suffered an engine failure at Lap 31 that relegated him to the garage early. On a Lap 90 restart, Bubba Wallace was fourth in the outside lane trying to shove the line forward. Chastain, who won at Circuit of the Americas on March 27, joins William Byron ( Atlanta, Martinsville) as the only drivers to win multiple races this season. As cars crashed behind them, Chastain stayed low and charged past both to score his second career win, both coming in the past five races.

Generally, Talladega races go one of two ways: Either a seemingly endless series of multi-car wrecks slows the race down to a series of ugly overtime ...

Although both his wins came at unorthodox tracks, they combine with strong runs at every other type of track on the schedule to make Chastain and Trackhouse Racing surprise early contenders for the 2022 championship. It left all three with nowhere to go, opening the door for Chastain to simply hold his position and take the win. Bubba Wallace won the first and William Byron won the second, but the race for positioning began after the final guaranteed caution at the end of stage 2.

It's been an up and down season for Ross Chastain. But this Sunday was one of the good ones as he came away with the win at Talladega.

I’m not going to lose the race for us,” Chastain said. I’m always the one going to the top too early making the mistake. The Watermelon Man celebrated his win with his trademark watermelon smash in victory lane.