ROSS CHASTAIN \u2014 NO. 1 MOOSE FRATERNITY CHEVROLET<\/p>\n
Moose Fraternity at Darlington
For the first time this season, Ross Chastain will drive the No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet. This is the seventh season Moose Fraternity has partnered with Chastain. The paint scheme is most recognized for Chastain\u2019s \u201cHail Melon\u201d wall ride at Martinsville in October 2022. He will run the Moose Fraternity Chevrolet three additional times in 2026, including Echo Park Speedway in July as the next event.<\/p>\n
Chastain at Darlington
Chastain makes his 14th Cup Series start at Darlington on Sunday. He has not finished outside the top 11 in his last five Darlington Cup races, averaging a finish of 7.8 in that span. Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, he has led 126 laps at the track. He won the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Darlington in May 2024 with Niece Motorsports.<\/p>\n
Triple Duty at Darlington
Chastain will compete in all three national NASCAR series races this weekend. He will drive the No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado for Niece Motorsports in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series on Friday night. On Saturday, he will race the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports before getting behind the wheel of the No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet for Sunday\u2019s 293\u2011lap Cup event.<\/p>\n
Meet Chastain
Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET, Chastain will appear at the Moose Lodge at 1056 N. Governor Williams Highway in Darlington.
Sunday at 10:30 a.m., he will sign autographs at the South Carolina Department of Highway Safety booth in the Fan Zone. Wristbands required.
Sunday at 11:30 a.m. local time, he will sign autographs at the Trackhouse Racing merchandise hauler. Wristbands required.<\/p>\n
New Year, New Crew Chief
Brandon McSwain joined Trackhouse Racing in December as the new crew chief of the No. 1 team. This is Chastain\u2019s first full-time Cup season without Phil Surgen. Chastain and McSwain first met in 2014 at Hattori Racing Enterprises. McSwain previously worked as an engineer at JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports. He most recently served as the lead race engineer for William Byron.<\/p>\n
Last Weekend at Las Vegas
Chastain qualified 17th for the Cup race at Las Vegas, his 16th career start at the track. After working on handling and recovering from being one lap down at one point, he finished 17th.<\/p>\n
CHASTAIN QUOTES<\/p>\n
On going to Darlington with a new tire package and higher horsepower:
\u201cGreat weekend of racing coming up and I love Darlington. It\u2019s been mean to me, but I look forward to it every time. There will be low grip at the end of a tire run and now with higher horsepower, it\u2019s going to be really tough. I\u2019m in all three races this weekend, and I\u2019m really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether Darlington is challenging:
\u201cThere\u2019s a reason I love Darlington. It\u2019s my favorite track. It\u2019s never easy. There are so many things I can do wrong as a driver and hit the wall, but I love it for that. Darlington has been mean to me over the years, but I still love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On learning the history of Darlington:
\u201cNo, not at first. I grew up a casual fan and didn\u2019t even know there were Saturday or Friday races. I learned a lot once I got to North Carolina. I\u2019ve watched a lot of old races and interviews, and it\u2019s neat seeing what Darlington was decades ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
ABOUT MOOSE INTERNATIONAL<\/p>\n
The Moose is an international fraternal organization of roughly one million members committed to supporting children, seniors and communities. The organization operates approximately 1,300 lodges and centers in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. Mooseheart Child City and School provides a residential environment and education for children in need, while Moosehaven in Florida serves as a retirement community for senior Moose members. Moose Lodges also support \u201cHeart of the Community\u201d programs, contributing an estimated $50\u2013$60 million annually in community service projects.<\/p>\n
CONNOR ZILISCH \u2014 TRACKHOUSE RACING NOTES<\/p>\n
\u2022 Zilisch will make his ninth NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend and first at Darlington.
\u2022 Friday: Zilisch will visit Fort Bragg for a private autograph session with military personnel.
\u2022 Saturday: He will take part in the annual Darlington Legends Parade at 10:00 a.m.
\u2022 Saturday Noon: Zilisch will compete in the \u201cToo Tough to Tame\u201d Cornhole Tournament in the Fan Zone.
\u2022 Zilisch appears in \u201cFull Speed: The Daytona 500,\u201d which premiered March 5 on Prime Video.
\u2022 Randall Burnett begins his first season as crew chief for Zilisch and the No. 88 team after previous success at Richard Childress Racing.
\u2022 Sunday at 11:50 a.m., Zilisch will sign autographs at the Trackhouse merchandise hauler. Wristbands required.
\u2022 Las Vegas recap: Zilisch finished 32nd after a late-race incident.<\/p>\n
ZILISCH QUOTES<\/p>\n
On entering Darlington:
\u201cI\u2019m excited to go back to Darlington. I\u2019ve only raced there once in the O\u2019Reilly Series and finished sixth. This year\u2019s package brings a lot of unknowns. It\u2019s going to be chaotic with low downforce, high horsepower and soft tires.\u201d<\/p>\n
On tire management:
\u201cYou never want to be spinning the tires. The concepts apply across all race cars. I\u2019ve learned a lot through different divisions in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
ABOUT RED BULL<\/p>\n
Red Bull Energy Drink is available in 178 countries, with 12.6 billion cans sold in 2024. An 8.4\u2011ounce can contains 80 mg of caffeine. More information can be found at RedBull.com.<\/p>\n
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN \u2014 TRACKHOUSE RACING NOTES<\/p>\n
\u2022 Van Gisbergen will make his fourth Cup start at Darlington. He finished 20th last spring and 32nd last fall.
\u2022 He will debut the WeatherTech paint scheme for the first time this season.
\u2022 In 2024, he scored three victories in the WeatherTech Chevrolet, including Chicago.
\u2022 At Las Vegas last weekend, he finished 36th after early handling issues.
\u2022 Enters the weekend 16th in driver points, one point out of 15th.
\u2022 The No. 97 carries personal significance, matching his father\u2019s racing number and his own Supercars legacy.
\u2022 Sunday, March 22 at 11:50 a.m., he will sign autographs at the Trackhouse merchandise trailer. Wristbands required.<\/p>\n
VAN GISBERGEN QUOTES<\/p>\n
On confidence heading to Darlington:
\u201cIt will be my fourth race there. Qualifying at Darlington is one of the craziest experiences. I enjoy it. It\u2019s one of my favorite ovals.\u201d<\/p>\n
On adapting to ovals:
\u201cWe\u2019ve improved a lot. We started running 30th last year, and now we\u2019re in that eighth to 15th-place range. There\u2019s still a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
On expectations of eventually winning an oval race:
\u201cI\u2019m a long way from that, but I can feel the improvement. It\u2019s a cool compliment, but I know I still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trackhouse Racing PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROSS CHASTAIN \u2014 NO. 1 MOOSE FRATERNITY CHEVROLET Moose Fraternity at DarlingtonFor the first time this season, Ross…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,718,925,4384,77,12716,634,582,721,1704,722,82],"class_list":["post-545579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-craftsman-truck-series","tag-daytona","tag-hendrick-motorsports","tag-international","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-racing","tag-series","tag-speed","tag-speedway","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545579","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=545579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}