Trackhouse's Ross Chastain says this weekend's NASCAR Cup race on the Chicago Street Course gives him “another chance” to compete against road racing star Shane van Gisbergen.
Van Gisbergen won last 12 months’s inaugural race, held in rainy conditions on the streets of Chicago, after an epic charge for the lead in the ultimate stage, setting the fastest lap by 0.85 seconds within the Trackhouse Project 91 race and winning by 1.25 seconds over Justin Haley within the tiebreaker.
Van Gisbergen, who’s currently an everyday within the second-tier Xfinity Series, has signed with Trackhouse and can be racing part-time within the Cup Series with Kaulig Racing. He can even pilot the No. 16 automobile when NASCAR returns to Chicago this weekend.
Chastain, who has yet to win a Cup race this season but has 4 wins to his name, finished just twenty second.and Twelve months ago, he frolicked with SVG learning easy methods to refine his technique on NASCAR’s only street circuit.
“He’s just a great guy and has little tidbits here and there,” Chastain said. “He’s an animal on the road course, and we’ve seen that together with his two Xfinity wins this season. He’s that good.
“It was about deliberately placing the automobile where he wanted to position it. I attempted to position it kind of between the partitions, and he placed it against the wall, benefiting from the left and right sides.
“It's easy to say, but really hard to do.”
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, Busch Country Chevrolet Camaro
Photo: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsports images
Chastain recognized that van Gisbergen’s approach to maximizing his time spent within the Chevrolet simulator was a key element of his success and acknowledges that he put in much more effort ahead of this 12 months’s event.
“Well, as far as preparation goes, he’s a machine,” Chastain added. “I might say he’s type of leading the way in which within the simulator and doing it the way in which he thinks he’s going to do it.
“But the streets there have modified and we're all honest with one another that the simulator is a tool. At least I'll have something to start out with.
“To be honest, last year I didn’t pay enough attention to his preparation on the simulator, but this year I definitely did.”
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, AdventHealth Chevrolet Camaro
Photo: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsports images
When asked what he was most looking forward to in Chicago, Chastain replied, “I’m going to provide myself one other likelihood, as SVG would say!
“It definitely wasn’t the result I wanted last 12 months. I didn’t feel comfortable, I didn’t have much speed, I couldn’t overtake and I used to be really struggling. It was a concrete canyon feeling and the partitions were really near the left and right of the racing line.
“I can’t wait to get my next dose and see if I can do better.”
