MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Six races into the NASCAR Cup Series campaign, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain leads the standings.
Chastain has three top-10 finishes, including his fifth-place effort last Sunday at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, where he won his first Cup Series race last season.
Chastain has a 19-point leader over Kyle Busch, who won earlier this season at Auto Club Speedway. Busch drives the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Joey Logano, the winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford is third in the standings, with Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Kevin Harvick fourth.
Christopher Bell is the only Toyota pilot in the top five, ranking fifth aboard the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry.
• Kyle Busch finished second Sunday at COTA, driving the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet that race winner Tyler Reddick drove to three victories last season.
“Our Netspend Camaro was pretty fast but not fast enough for Reddick. Obviously, he’s really good on road courses,” Busch said. “I’ve been trying to emulate the things he’s done in the 8 car last year and try to make me better and our program continuing to evolve. I just didn’t have enough. All in all, a great day and a good points day.”
• Alex Bowman and Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen each experienced problems with their cool seats during a hot day in Austin.
After starting fourth with under 10 laps to go, Kimi Raikkonen fell to 29th by the race’s conclusion. (HHP/Tim Parks)
“When this Coolshirt doesn’t work, it just heat soaks, kind of cooks you,” Bowman explained after finishing third in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “I’m hot. It stopped working pretty early. I don’t have issues with stuff from Hendrick Motorsports very often.”
Raikkonen finished 29th for Trackhouse Racing after getting shuffled back during the series of wild late-race restarts.
“It was a long race. Our cool suit didn’t work half of the race, it stopped working,” Raikkonen said. “So it was quite hot in the car.”
• Jenson Button, making his Cup Series debut for Rick Ware Racing, also struggled with the heat.
“Finished 18th after almost stopping because I had heat exhaustion. It was so hot. I don’t have a fan in my seat, which really didn’t help me too much. It was so hot, I thought I was going to faint in the car,” Button explained. “So I stopped twice for a minute. They put ice on me, gave me loads of water, and I went back out. I was so close to getting out of the car because I thought I was going to faint. I must’ve drank eight or nine bottles of water during the race. The team kept me calm, and it’s the reason why we got a good result in the end. So, I was happy.”
• Chris Buescher finished eighth at COTA for RFK Racing and Ford.
“It was our first bumper car race of the year,” Buescher said. “Our Fifth Third Ford Mustang ended up pretty solid there toward the end. We got a solid top-10 out of it. That’s a big testament to this team and its ‘never give up’ attitude. I started into the 30s for the day, 32nd. I had to really power through, and we had some issues there that probably came from getting run into… backward a couple times. But I’m proud of everybody. That was a good finish for a really hard-fought day.”
• Frustration was a word used frequently by drivers following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas.
Veteran sports car racer Jordan Taylor, who made his first Cup Series start subbing for injured Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, was among those who had challenging afternoons.
“It was definitely wild. I wouldn’t say I survived; I feel like I’m beat up pretty much,” Taylor said.
“Every restart, you just get smashed in the front, rear, side. So yeah, it was pretty much just survival. The guys knew I’d be a little bit more hesitant, so they would take advantage of it. At the end, I got more aggressive and made our way almost back to the top-10. On the last restart, I don’t know who went down on the inside, but they were never going to make the corner and used us to stop themselves.
“I’d say it was a disappointing day. I made a couple big mistakes early on that probably put us back there, but the No. 9 UniFirst Chevy was fast. I need to thank UniFirst and Hendrick Motorsports for giving me the opportunity. We had good pace, but we just got shuffled back every restart. Tough day.”
• Corey LaJoie, who drives the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet, ranks 15th in the standings after six races and is ahead of Alex Bowman (16th), Ty Gibbs (18th), Bubba Wallace (19th), Chase Briscoe (23rd) , Austin Dillon (25th) and Kyle Larson (27th), among others.
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois has joined NASCAR as a founding partner of the first-ever Chicago Street Race Weekend. The partnership was unveiled as part of a press conference at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois headquarters in downtown Chicago.
Keyword: Cup Series Notes: Wild COTA Event Shakes Up The Field