Chastain changes course, declares for the Truck Series

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By: Kelly Crandall | 7 hours ago


Ross Chastain will earn points in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series beginning with this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

There have been eight Truck Series races this season, and Chastain has top-10 finishes in all of them, scoring his first career win in the series last month in Kansas with Niece Motorsports, the team he’ll continue to run for as the season goes on.

Chastain issued a statement on his Twitter page explaining his intentions:




Because Chastain had declared for Xfinity Series points coming into the year, he has no Truck points going into Texas and will need to win another race and climb into the top 20 in points to qualify for the playoffs. The 20th place driver in points now is Jesse Little, who has not run every race, with 91 points.

“I know it won’t be easy, but I believe this team is capable of making the playoffs and competing for a championship with Ross,” said team owner Al Niece. “Ross, Phil, Cody and every single employee at this team have worked incredibly hard to continue to advance this program.

“We are proud to bring trucks capable of winning to the racetrack. It takes a lot of work to get there; we don’t take it lightly. We’re ready to see what the next eight races bring.”

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Chastain has also run every Xfinity Series race this season, splitting his time between the No. 4 JD Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. In making the switch for Truck Series points, Chastain will no longer earn points in Xfinity where he is 13th in the standings and in contention for the playoffs, which he qualified for last season.

NASCAR allows drivers only to earn points in one series.


Ross Chastain, Niece Motorsports, Gander Outdoors Truck, NASCAR