Ross Chastain reflects on what Trackhouse Racing needs to improve for 2025 season

Last season did not go how Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing hoped it would. Despite a win at Kansas late in the year, improvement is needed. So, what does Chastain and his NASCAR team need in the 2025 season to not miss the playoffs for a second straight season?

Ross Chastain has now gone three years straight with at least one win. He has five career wins in that time. Even with that late win at Kansas in 2024, it felt like a disappointing season. No playoff run.

Talking to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, Chastain was asked about how his team will improve this year. He has a few ideas, although nothing too specific.

“What Justin wants us to do is win. I know everybody says that and it’s easy to say it and it’s not as simple as putting a part on the car, but investing in the right people, investing in the right tools for the people to use. And those people making the right decisions, or the best decisions they can make, are going to be crucial.

“So, I think bringing [crew chief] Stephen [Doran] in on the 88 in-house officially is good. To have Shane as well to join Daniel and I, he’s already – last year just showed us some things and some different ways of thinking about preparation that Daniel and I hadn’t been doing that we adopted some of Shane’s ways and Shane adopted some of ours. Now we get 38 cracks at it to see if we can do it.”

Adding a world-class driver like SVG and a good crew chief as well in Doran is major. Three cars at Trackhouse will give them more data to improve these Chevrolets.

Ross Chastain looking to avoid disappointment again

Speaking to Pockrass, Chastain reflected on not how the season affected him but his organization. His team and crew want to compete for championships. When they don’t have a playoff sticker on the car, that’s a big deal.

“I mean, it’s tough,” Chastain continued. “I could see it on faces, and I definitely could se it when I looked in the mirror. The weeks late in the summer leading into the playoffs, trying to accomplish that goal, and not achieving that, but we didn’t stop, and we still through the ten playoff races had our ups and downs. But the bright spot is Kansas to put ourself in position all weekend to go execute on a restart and win the race.

“That’s what we’re looking for, and we had those opportunities at Nashville and Vegas earlier in the year and a couple of others. So, the opportunities were still there, I just couldn’t finish those races. Whether it was speeding on pit road or crashing late, whatever it was. But I could see the disappointment after Darlington, starting the playoffs. When the 1 team, something as simple as the windshield banners and the playoffs stickers aren’t on the car, it was terrible. I don’t ever want to feel that again and I’ve worked really hard since then to not ever let that happen again.

Ross Chastain is a humble driver. He is also a driver that is aggressive and hard to pass. As the season unfolds, his star power could really take off in NASCAR and maybe even beyond.