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NASCAR has expanded the limits of races that Cup Series drivers can start in 2026. And the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver has already announced his plans as well. Ross Chastain<\/a> will run the maximum allowed number of Truck races (eight) for Niece Motorsports. In the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series, Chastain will wheel the No. 32 for Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport. His confirmed venues are the first Atlanta race, the Circuit of the Americas, Sonoma Raceway, and Watkins Glen International.<\/p>\n #1: Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet<\/p>\n But Ross Chastain intends to extend his racing limits, all for one goal. \u201cEverything revolves around Sunday\u2019s Cup car. If I don\u2019t go fast there, nothing else matters. So yes, in the past it\u2019s been five and five in the Truck and O\u2019Reilly Series, now you can do 8 and 10. So we\u2019ll be in every possible race that NASCAR will allow us this year,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n In 2025, Ross Chastain came dangerously close to acing the playoffs. He won the prestigious Coca-Cola 600<\/a>, clinched 12 top tens and 4 top fives, and finished 10th in points. With the elimination-style format gone, Chastain can focus on honing his racecraft and displaying speed every weekend.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cI sure think I can, I sure do,\u201d Ross Chastain replied when asked if a championship is within reach. \u201cAnd I think I can by taking ten races after making the playoffs, which is no easy feat. But I\u2019d be the top 16 in points, and yeah, you\u2019ve got ten races to beat 15 people in points. It\u2019s a simple math equation, just gotta get more points.\u201d<\/p>\n While he prepares for a diversified schedule inside NASCAR, Ross Chastain has his eyes outside as well.<\/p>\n Exploring a new sport<\/p>\n On a visit to Daytona last weekend, Ross Chastain toured Action Express Racing\u2019s Whelen Cadillac set-up. As a guest of General Motors and Action Express Racing, Chastain admitted that observing IMSA events firsthand from the pit box was a completely different experience. He marveled at how swift the team and the racers are in terms of operations. A driver had been waiting ahead of time after a red flag came out for a stalled car.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cIt was interesting to see the depth of the team and ask Connor [Zilisch], probably, some silly questions. But it\u2019s just some stuff that I never learned,\u201d elaborated Ross Chastain. \u201cIt was just cool to learn about. We could be in this very pit stall for the Daytona 500 next month, and it doesn\u2019t compare at all to this, which is good in our respective series.\u201d<\/p>\n Connor Zilisch<\/a>, a Rolex 24 at Daytona winner in the LMP2 class, will be Ross Chastain\u2019s new teammate in 2026. Zilisch will start his first full-time Cup Series campaign with Trackhouse Racing after a star-studded Xfinity year.<\/p>\n As Ross Chastain gets into position for 2026, the excitement can be no less. Let\u2019s wait and see how our melon farmer navigates the season.<\/p>\n The post Ross Chastain\u2019s All-In Gamble Exposes NASCAR\u2019s Relentless Grind as He Eyes Maiden Cup Glory<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 presents NASCAR drivers with fresh possibilities. The tweaked championship format is one, as the focus is finally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,3140,634,8994,82,36954],"class_list":{"0":"post-427343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cup-series","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-ross-chastain","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-trackhouse-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"#1:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c0b97369dc30dad678e45cc1e72652d7.jpeg\"\/)
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