Ross Chastain returns to Nashville after a thrilling Coca-Cola 600 victory

LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) - Ross Chastain is ready to get back behind the wheel of a race car after a busy week celebrating going from worst to victory lane at the Coca-Cola 600 for the first time in his career.

He also knows only too well how humbling racing can be.

"We put ourselves at a lot of high risk getting back on track that the success could be hard again," Chastain said Saturday still wearing the Coca-Cola 600 winner’s ring on his right hand. "The cars don't know what happened last week."

Chastain has had three top-three finishes over his past four races, and he goes into Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 very familiar with Nashville Superspeedway.

Music City is home to his Trackhouse Racing team, and Chastain won here in 2023. He also has finished second and fifth, and had a chance to win last year. This also will be Trackhouse Racing’s 300th Cup race.

Chastain credited his crew chief Phil Surgen and Trackhouse Racing but said he doesn’t know why he’s been so successful at this track. Chastain said he doesn’t feel like he does anything different down to his preparation.

“We have really, really good race cars," Chastain said of his No. 1 Chevrolet.

This race now is a month earlier than the past four years, and the Cracker Barrel 400 comes exactly halfway through NASCAR’s regular season. Chastain is among the eight drivers already locked into the playoffs with a victory.

This race took a record five overtimes to finish a year ago with Joey Logano surviving for his first Cup win of 2024. He had saved just enough gas to pull out that victory, so of course it merited a look back just in case.

"You don't know that opportunity will ever present itself again," Logano said. “It's a pretty rare opportunity for it to end up like that. But because we were ready for it and we were prepared that day that’s what helped us win. So yeah, you're always kind of looking at that stuff"

Brad Keselowski, currently 32nd in the standings, won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race here in 2008. He walked the D-shaped track Saturday and marveled at how Nashville, which hosted its first races in 2001, has aged since his career-changing victory.

"It's kind of aged like fine wine,” Keselowski said. “When I was doing the walk I was thinking about it. The surface is 25, 26 years old, and it’s in great condition. The facilities are in great condition. It’s just really a kind of walk back in time for me."

Nashville kicks off NASCAR’s new In-Season Challenge involving 32 drivers and a single-elimination over five races starting June 28 at Atlanta. The top 32 drivers in points after Sunday night’s race in Nashville will make up the field for the three seeding races.

Those races start at Michigan on June 8, and conclude at Pocono on June 22. Drivers will be seeded by their best finish over those three races for the competition starting at Atlanta. The field will be narrowed to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and finally two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The tournament comes with a $1 million prize to the winner and is part of a new media rights deal including TNT.

Denny Hamlin at +350 is the betting favorite to win Sunday night, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Kyle Larson (+550), Christopher Bell (+650) and William Byron (+725). If Hamlin makes the starting line Sunday night remains to be seen. His fiancee is expecting their third child, a boy, with Sunday the due date. Hamlin said he has an eight-hour window to race and get home but hadn’t set a timeline to make a final decision before qualifying. "I can't miss it," Hamlin said of his new son’s arrival. … This race has had a different winner each of the first four years at this track. … Country music singer Chase Rice, a former NASCAR pit crew member, will be the honorary pace car driver Sunday night. Rice has sold more than 2.8 million albums and had more than 2.9 billion total streams. His hits include "Eyes on You," "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen." and "Lonely If You Are."

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