NASCAR returns to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for the 75th annual Southern 500 with as much on the line as any race ever held on the historic 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain enters Sunday’s 6 p.m. regular-season finale in 18th place in the playoff standings, 27 points behind Chris Buescher and six points behind Bubba Wallace for the 16th and final transfer position into the 2024 NASCAR playoffs.
Teammate Daniel Suárez is locked into the playoffs but knows a win or bonus points for winning one of the two stages would improve his seeding for the 10-race playoffs.
The playoffs begin Sept. 8 with the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart on the highbanks of Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
- Busch Light Retro: Ross Chastain and Busch Light will be showing off a Retro paint scheme down in South Carolina for the second time for this weekend’s regular season finale. This paint scheme on the No.1 Chevrolet is an ode to the brand’s commitment to the sport dating back to 1979 and all the ways the brand has shown its passion for NASCAR and its fans since then. The Busch Retro Scheme design showcases an old school Busch Beer blue with distressed wood accents across the full car, featuring retro Busch Beer and Anheuser-Busch logos along with the brand’s iconic mountain landscape.
- Busch Light Sweeps: Busch Light will be giving fans another chance to win this week with their #BreakForBusch #Sweepstakes. Follow @BuschBeer on X to learn more.
- Season Stats: Even though Chastain is fighting for a playoff spot, he currently has the eighth best average finish of 14.8 among fulltime Cup Series competitors, and is 13th in most laps led this season with 175. Chastain has earned eight top-10s in 25 races so far this season and is currently 13th in driver points.
- Meet Chastain: Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, Chastain will sign autographs at the South Carolina Department of Public Safety booth located in the Darlington fan midway. Wristband required – distribution begins on Saturday at the booth.
- Darlington Stats: Chastain makes his 11th Cup Series start on Sunday night at Darlington. Since driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, he’s led 120 laps at the historic South Carolina track. In last year’s Labor Day weekend race, Chastain finished fifth.
- Double Duty at Darlington: In addition to this weekend’s Cup race at Darlington, Chastain will pilot the No. 92 South Carolina Department of Public Safety Chevrolet for DGM Racing in Saturday afternoon’s Xfinity Series race. The Florida native has earned a pole and best finish of second in the Xfinity Series at the 1.366-mile track. The last time Chastain piloted the South Carolina Department of Public Safety livery in the May Truck Series race at Darlington he captured the win for Niece Motorsports.
- NASCAR: Full Speed: Catch Chastain in the five-episode docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed on Netflix. The series documented portions of Chastain’s 2023 season on and off the track. All five episodes are currently available on Netflix.
- Last Weekend at Daytona: Chastain started last Saturday night’s race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in 24th. He finished 11th in the first stage and raced in eighth on lap 61 in the second stage when he was turned in front of the field sending him spinning into the wall. He battled back from two laps down to return to the lead lap and finish 12th with a damaged Worldwide Express Chevrolet.
- 2023 Season Recap: Chastain won at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in June and at the Phoenix Raceway season finale in November. He posted 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in his third full time Cup season. The Alva, Florida native finished ninth in points.
Chastain Quotes:
Of the races remaining this season, which track do you look forward to the most?
“Darlington is at the top of my list of all of the track we race at. I love driving down to Darlington. I like racing at the track in any series there. Obviously got the win in the truck there earlier this year. That was a huge a deal for me personally because I love Darlington so much.”
What’s your outlook for Sunday?
“We need to gather a lot of points Sunday night and win. The math is the math. If we have a fast car that will obviously increase our chances. I love Darlington so I can’t think of a better place to be going this weekend. We’ll all know Sunday night if I’m in the playoffs or not. No matter what though, we’re going to keep working hard and going for wins the rest of the season.”
Suárez Notes
- Three Consecutive Top-10s: Daniel Suárez’s streak of three consecutive top-10 finishes ended Saturday night when a fire forced Suárez out of the race in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
- Back in 2025: Trackhouse Racing announced this month that Suárez and Freeway Insurance will return to the No. 99 Chevrolet racing team for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, marking their fifth season together. Freeway will be the primary sponsor for one-third of the 2025 season, including the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR All-Star race.
- Married Man/Racer: Suárez married his fiancé Julia Piquet at a ceremony on July 30 in Brazil. Four days later he raced in the NASCAR Brazil race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos. He won one of the three races and battled for victory in the other two races.
- Making History: Suárez now has the unique accomplishment of winning in NASCAR Mexico and Brazil in addition to all three American series.
Suárez is Now a Dual Citizen of Mexico and the United States:Suárez took the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony on June 18 in front of media, friends, the NASCAR industry and NASCAR President Steve Phelps who gave the keynote address to the 48 new citizens from 28 countries who joined Suárez at the ceremony. The 32-year-old, Monterrey, Mexico native came to America about 13 years ago without speaking English. He passed the United States Citizenship test on April 29 in Charlotte before taking the final step on June 18. He is now a dual citizen of Mexico and the United States.
- Atlanta Victory: At Atlanta, he and runner-up Ryan Blaney were separated by 0.003 seconds at the finish line. It was the fourth-closest finish in series history, and with third-place Kyle Busch just 0.007 seconds behind the winner, it also stands as the closest finish among three cars in the history of auto racing.
- Trackhouse Victories: Atlanta marked Trackhouse Racing’s seventh win in the NASCAR Cup Series, and first at Atlanta. Chastain owns four victories, Suárez two and one for Shane van Gisbergen.
- Mexico Series Victory: Suárez won the 150-lap Mexico Series race at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Feb. 3. It was his 11th victory.
- First Mexican to Win in Cup: Suárez became the first driver from Mexico (Monterrey) to win in the NASCAR Cup Series on June 12, 2022, at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
- International Driver: He is one of six drivers not from the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race: Shane van Gisbergen (New Zealand), Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia), Earl Ross (Canada) and Mario Andretti (Italy). Ambrose, Montoya, and Suárez own two victories each.
- Cup Career Highlights: Suárez owns two victories (Sonoma 2022 and Atlanta 2024) and three Busch Light Pole Awards – Pocono (Pa.) Raceway July 2018, Kentucky Speedway July 2019, and on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway August 2023.
Suárez Quotes:
Are You Ready for Darlington?
“Oh yes. I think if you are a NASCAR driver you respect and want to do well at Darlington. It’s such a challenge. It’s a tough track, you have to respect it and race the track as much as you race the rest of the field. Running five hundred miles there isn’t just a mental challenge but a physical challenge as well. If you win there you know you have done something special. We want to win Sunday and get a stage point or two.”
With the recent string of good runs, is the No. 99 peaking in time for the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs?
“We hope so. That’s been our plan all along was to try some things early in the season and then be running well when the playoffs start. We aren’t exactly where we want to be at the moment, but we are running better. You always want to do better. Daytona wasn’t much fun but we were running well before we had the fire issue which was kind of freak occurrence. We are excited about our chances in the playoffs and can’t wait for Atlanta to get here. Right now, I’m focused on Darlington.”
Trackhouse Racing PR
