While the NASCAR grid has been prominently dominated by the big fish, several smaller teams have steadily emerged in the sport.
Apart from the dominance of Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, and Team Penske, one team that has particularly shone in NASCAR this season is Trackhouse Racing. While all three of the team’s drivers contributed to the team’s success, one name has been the squa’d anchor for a while.
Despite having fewer wins in his tally than Shane van Gisbergen, Ross Chastain ranked much higher in the table with his consistency. Besides, the No. 1 driver has been the squad’s anchor for a while. However, with a wave of change coming to Trachouse Racing, NASCAR deemed Chastain’s future in the team to be in danger.
What Are Some of the Biggest Changes at Trackhouse Racing
Alongside two Trackhouse Racing drivers making it to the postseason, the team made a few other announcements for the upcoming season. Firstly, Daniel Suarez, after five years with the team, is set to depart at the end of the season.
However, the bigger news was when Trackhouse announced the signing of Xfinity prodigy Connor Zilisch for the 2026 season. With major shakeups in the organization, there were obvious questions about Chastain’s future with the team.
Recently, Kevin Harvick sat down with NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass to discuss several hot topics in the sport, including the playoffs debate, NASCAR’s ongoing legal battle, and the direction in which the sport is headed.
What Do Kevin Harvick and Bob Pockrass Think of Ross Chastain’s Future
In the middle of the conversation, Harvick brought up the topic of Chastain and his future at Trackhouse Racing. The 2014 championship believed Chastain to be the anchor at Trackhouse and wondered if his judgment was accurate. He asked:
“When you look at Trackhouse and Ross [Chastain], I mean, that’s the anchor — I mean, he’s viewed as the anchor of the team. Is that fair?”
Pockrass responded by agreeing with Harvick’s analysis. However, he also highlighted, “You see Zilisch coming in, you see a new crew chief coming in, you saw them build the car for SVG and bring Steven in to be the crew chief and built a whole team around it.”
He was also impressed by how the team had worked around sponsorship and operations.
Following this, Harvick once again questioned how Chastain would fare in the sport in the coming years. He asked, “Does he stay at Trackhouse? Do you think that there’s too many things that have changed? What do you think that whole dynamic turns into?”
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Pockrass deemed Chastain has at least a few more years left at Trackhouse before he looks in other directions. He continued, “I don’t see Ross as a guy who likes a lot of change. And he’s a guy who I think is very comfortable at Trackhouse. I think he’ll still be the anchor, right? Like SVG is still going to be on a learning curve. Zilisch is still going to be on a learning curve.”
While it remains to be seen who Chastain ends up driving for in the future, the watermelon farmer-turned-driver currently sits ninth in the playoff table and is only 13 points below the cutoff line. While it won’t be easy, Chastain still has a shot at making it to the next round, provided that he wins at Charlotte or bags enough points.