Ross Chastain finds much-needed speed and finishes seventh at Iowa Speedway
Speed has been a frustrating problem for Trackhouse Racing all through the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, but Ross Chastain finally found the pace at Iowa Speedway to deliver his best showing of the year.
“It feels so good,” Chastain said with a sigh of relief. “It was a complete weekend. The very first lap, very small changes all weekend.”
Confidence was high right from practice and qualifying as Chastain secured a ninth-place starting position in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350. It was his finest effort on a non-drafting oval since early April at Bristol Motor Speedway. When the green flag dropped, the speed translated directly into results, locking down sixth place in the opening stage.
Stage 2 brought even stronger momentum, with Chastain trailing only Christopher Bell and Joey Logano at the second intermission. He pulled in 13 stage points for the day, which is a massive haul considering he had earned only 16 stage points total across the 40 stages he hadn’t won entering the weekend. (Chastain already holds four stage wins in 2026, putting him tied for the fourth-most in the Cup field.)
During a caution-free final stage, first-year crew chief Brandon McSwain rolled the dice and left Chastain on track longer than anyone else. The No. 1 car finally dived to pit road on Lap 330 after leading 40 laps—marking his most laps led in a single race since his victory at Kansas Speedway in September 2024, where he led 52. Re-entering the track in seventh position with two fresh Goodyear tires, he held his ground there for the final 20 laps.
That seventh-place finish tied his best result of the season at a non-drafting track, matching Naval Base Coronado. More importantly, he clawed back 35 points on The Chase bubble, leaving him 47 points below the cutline with just three races remaining before the reset. Trackhouse Racing also managed to put two cars inside the top 11 positions at Iowa, with Connor Zilisch matching his best oval finish.