Chip Ganassi Racing announced Friday (Nov. 9) that Ross Chastain will pilot the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet Camaro in 2019 full-time in the XFINITY Series. After spending almost four years at JD Motorsports, Chastain will move to the No. 42 car where he earned the victory in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago.
“It’s not the traditional way I have seen done in the last 10 years,” said Chastain about the move from the smaller funded JD Motorsports to Chip Ganassi Racing. “I am proud to do it the way I did it now. I can’t say that five years ago I saw it working out.
“My first time at Las Vegas and my first time at Phoenix were start and parks for Bobby Dotter. We ran most of the year, got to the end and couldn’t run the whole race so I come back to these tracks every year now and I think about that.
“Honestly, I think that’s what helped prepare me to be in the 42 car and be able to get everything out of it.”
As noted above, Chastain’s road to this point hasn’t been a traditional one. He has been in the XFINITY Series since 2014 running for teams like JD Motorsports, Tri-Star Motorsports, Hattori Racing Enterprises and now Chip Ganassi Racing. When it comes to his career in the Truck Series, Chastain has gone down the same road with running for teams like Stacy Compton’s Turn One Racing, RSS Racing, SS-Green Light Racing and ultimately making the move to Brad Keselowski Racing in 2012.
When asked about a second car for his Cup drivers or for John Hunter Nemechek, Chip Ganassi stated he would love to field a second car for Nemechek and he is actively searching for a way to make that happen.
Concerning the news on the No. 1 car, Ganassi didn’t have any announcements to make during that conference. Kurt Busch, the rumored driver of the No. 1, stated he still is trying to line up his plans for the 2019 season.
Looks like talent finally won out to get a ride.