CONCORD, N.C. — The fight for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continues on after Sunday’s (Oct. 5) race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL cut the playoff field from 12 drivers to eight.
Ross Chastain was not one of those drivers who made the cut.
Chastain entered the ROVAL 13 points behind Joey Logano for the final spot in the Round of 8. Chastain started off the weekend on a positive note by qualifying 10th, which he attributed afterward to his teammate Shane van Gisbergen, who is notoriously good on road courses.
”I would not have qualified 10th today without Shane being my teammate,” Chastain said after qualifying on Oct. 4.
Things seemed to be going smoothly for the No. 1 team through the first stage, with Chastain electing to finish fifth and take stage points instead of pitting to flip the stage. However with the aggressive wear of the tires, staying out for stage points meant absolutely pitting under the caution for fresh Goodyears.
Therein came Chastain’s first big mistake: missing the exit of pit road.
The exit of pit road on the ROVAL is a 90-degree angle to accommodate for turn 1. If a driver isn’t paying attention, it sneaks up on you, just as it did Chastain. He carried too much speed around the corner and ended up having to slam the brakes to avoid hitting the wall.
“I tried to roll straight to the line because … you have to turn ahead of time if you wanna grab the bottom,” Chastain said after the race. “I thought I could run, like, the second or third lane out there. When I watched the yellow line go by and turned, it was way too late.“
Michael McDowell was on the inside of Chastain when the incident happened and was just as confused when he looked to his right and no longer saw the No. 1 next to him.
”I wasn’t really sure what happened,” McDowell told Frontstretch after the race. “The way that the line works, he just went straight. … We were just trying to jockey for that position at pit out.”
As Chastain failed to maintain pace car speed, all the cars that passed him at pit exit while he worked himself out of his predicament forced him to restart 30th.
”I should have given up one spot,” Chastain said in retrospect.
Chastain again opted to try for stage points, scoring a fourth-place finish in stage two. By this time, Logano had only accumulated three total stage points and had as little winning speed as Chastain did. It became clear that it would come down to points between them.
Throughout the entire final stage, Chastain and Logano played cat-and-mouse with each other. If one made the call to pit, the other followed. It was tit-for-tat.
Then came strike two for Chastain. Logano peeled off for pit road, and Chastain followed. All went smoothly, until the No. 1 was busted for speeding on pit road.
Chastain said he accidentally shifted up a higher gear than he was intending to and only caught himself because he found himself catching up to the No. 34 of Todd Gilliland just ahead of him.
”I’m in first [gear], clutch in and pull out, I grabbed second, and for some reason I went a second upshift,” Chastain said. “Was building my lights and I realized I was catching the [No.] 34. I slammed on the brakes and looked and I was in third.
”If the [No.] 34 wasn’t there I probably would’ve rolled the whole length of pit road in third gear.”
Chastain was seen pounding his steering wheel on pit exit, well before any penalty was announced, knowing his mistake.
After serving his pass-through penalty, the objective was clear: with slightly fresher tires than Logano (and others for that matter), Chastain would just have to beat Logano on speed by four cars or better.
And as the laps wound down, it looked like that would be the case. Then came a surprise: Logano’s crew chief Paul Wolfe called Logano to pit road with roughly a dozen laps left.
This time, Chastain didn’t follow, hoping that his pace would be enough to hang on.
At this point, it was Chastain who found himself with older tires, and he began hemorrhaging spots while Logano gained. At the white flag, Chastain had been passed by Denny Hamlin, which would have made it a tie between himself and Logano.
Coming back to the checkered flag, Logano had the final playoff spot, but in true Chastain fashion, the watermelon farmer tried one last trick: moving Hamlin and taking the spot back.
This time, the Hail Melon Pt. 2 became the Fail Melon.
The third strike: Chastain not only spun Hamlin but also himself in the process, allowing multiple cars, including Logano, to pass the No. 1 and Hamlin, securing Logano’s spot in the playoffs.
As for Chastain? Three strikes, and you’re out.
”They were innocent bystanders, whether they knew or not,” Chastain said. “I am sorry to them. I’m sorry to Denny, I’m sorry to [Joe Gibbs Racing] and his whole team. They were definitely innocent bystanders.
”I knew that it would not affect the [No.] 11 moving on to the Round of 8, and I’m OK with that.”
Hamlin said he likely wouldn’t have tried so hard to pass Chastain if he had known what the points looked like, knowing that not passing Chastain would have, in all likelihood, eliminated Logano from the playoffs.
”Truthfully, I wish I would have known what the last-lap scenario was,” Hamlin said. “I didn’t know he was desperate. I wish I would have known.”
Hamlin said the move took him by surprise.
”My spotter didn’t even say, ‘He’s closing in quickly,’” Hamlin said. “I just got spun and didn’t know what the hell was going on.”
Later, as Chastain was speaking to the media, Hamlin stepped in to speak to Chastain in private.
”Sorry, let me borrow him for a minute,” Hamlin told reporters before whisking Chastain a few feet away to chat — something that likely wouldn’t have happened if this was, say, 2022.
So what did Hamlin tell him?
”That he didn’t know,” Chastain said upon returning.
Logano said he was aware of the points situation the entire race.
”If you’re one of those people that say playoff points don’t matter, stage wins don’t matter, regular-season races don’t matter, go watch that,” Logano said after the race.
After coming home a disappointing 21st, with no Round of 8 playoff spot, Chastain did not mince words about what ended his championship hopes.
“The only reason we’re not in the Round of 8 is all on me,” he said.
As the adrenaline of the race wore down, Chastain also became frustrated with his own racecraft at the end, saying his Trackhouse team should be mad at him.
”Incredibly disappointed in myself,” Chastain said. “I completely disgraced Trackhouse and Chevy.
“I singlehandedly took us out. … I want to put my head underneath the landfill out back.”
The hug he got from team owner Justin Marks offered little comfort.
”He put his arm around me and said thank you,” Chastain said. “I don’t feel [like I should be] thanked right now. They should be really mad at me, and the [No.] 11 should, too. I see them looking at me, they should be.”
Despite the somber mood after the race, Chastain maintained an upbeat mood later on X.
”Can’t say enough about everyone on this [No.] 1 team and at Trackhouse,” Chastain wrote. “We’ll have a cold Busch beer and get after it the rest of the season.”
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.