Ross Chastain has no 'Hail Melon' tricks planned for 2023: 'Just go beat them'

This season for the NASCAR Playoffs, there are no tricks up the sleeves of Ross Chastain’s firesuit, no Hail Melon here. While Chastain says that now, if he ends up backed into a corner again, I’m sure he will find one way or another to get creative on the track.

For now, Ross Chastain is focusing on putting himself in a position to pick up points, advance, and even grab a win or two. Ultimately, the winner of the playoffs is going to have to collect a checkered flag at one point or another these last 10 races. Kyle Larson grabbed the first, nine more to go.

Talking with Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports ahead of the playoffs at media days, Chastain joked a bit about the Hail Melon. He was also very serious about his preparation for these playoffs.

“Nothing up these sleeves, nothing, [no] trick. We’ll just go and try to scrap up as many points as we can each round and transfer through – you know we can win one of these or a few of these. It’s okay to win, somebody’s got to. No Hail Melon, just go beat them.”

When asked if he felt “good” heading into the postseason, Ross Chastain kept it honest. He’s all-in with Trackhouse.

“I do [feel good],” the driver said. “I wouldn’t want to do this with any other group. I’ve got 140 employees that are putting two race cars… It’s two race cars, two rocket ships getting taken down to Darlington. We haven’t changed our procedures, Daniel and I have been together every morning to start these playoffs. We’ll continue what we’re doing and I trust our processes.”

During playoff media day last week, I wondered about Ross Chastain’s approach — does he have another Hail Melon planned, what he learned last year that he hopes to put to use and whether his relatively quiet summer means he’s in a better place with his competitors. pic.twitter.com/AVFUSXYxGy

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 7, 2023

So, what can we expect from Ross Chastain in the NASCAR Playoffs?

Ross Chastain shows resilience at Darlington

To start the weekend at Darlington and the NASCAR Playoffs, Chastain was slow. He didn’t do well in practice, was not a factor in qualifying, and it looked like it would be another disappointment for the No. 1 team.

Despite being bogged down in the middle of the field at times in the race, Ross Chastain and his team kept working on it. The sun went down and adjustments were made, all of a sudden, Chastain is in a rocket.

When it came to the end of the race, he was there all of a sudden. No, he wasn’t racing for a win, but he was racing in the top-10 and advancing. Soon, he would pass drivers like Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, and Brad Keselowski.

By the time the checkered flag waved for Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain was P5. A huge result given what looked to be on the horizon in this first round. Chastain enters Kansas 13 points above the cutline in 10th. Top-12 advance to the next round after Bristol.