Ross Chastain won Sunday’s (May 25) Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, tracking down a dominant William Byron in the closing laps to score his first victory of 2025.
Chastain scored the victory after starting from last due to a wreck in practice that sent him to a backup car.
The Trackhouse Racing team worked through the night on Saturday to get the car ready for Sunday, Chastain said.
“That’s the dedication it takes from Trackhouse,” Chastain told Amazon Prime. “There was people there that had their Saturdays off yesterday, and they came in.”
Byron was relegated to a runner-up finish despite being the class of the field for much of the 600-mile event. He led a race-high 283 laps and won every stage except the final one.
Chase Briscoe, AJ Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five, while Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson completed the top 10.
Keselowski grabbed a much-needed top-five finish that will help swing the team’s momentum after a nightmare start to the season.
“Strong showing, we want more, and we feel like we have a shot to win Nashville,” he said. “You just keep hammering through them and try to understand what you need to get better.”
The final stage ran clean and green for the last 100 laps, setting the stage for an epic battle between Byron and Denny Hamlin that saw the pair trade the lead back and forth. This continued all the way to the pit lane,, when the two pitted on the same lap and drag raced on the exit of pit road.
Hamlin dropped down the running order drastically as his team did not get enough fuel in the No. 11 on the final pit sequence, leading to Hamlin having to make a second stop. He ended the day in 16th.
In the end, Chastain flew under the radar and claimed the victory from both after pitting two laps later than the pair, giving him the tire advantage.
Kyle Larson, who ran the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 Double, finished 37th after an accident that took him out after 245 laps.
Cup Charlotte Results
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway for the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday, June 1, at 7 p.m. ET. Amazon Prime will have the broadcast.
