Chastain Earns Redemption with Truck Series Victory

Ross Chastain wins at Gateway
Jeff Curry/Getty Images

A week after having their NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series win stripped due to a post-race technical inspection failure at Iowa Speedway, Ross Chastain and his Niece Motorsports rebutted the disqualification with a thrilling victory in Saturday night's CarShield 200 presented by CK Power at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

While a contender for the win throughout the event's third stage, it was a gutsy fuel only call by crew chief Phil Gould on Lap 133 that allowed Chastain to gain the track position ahead of former leader Christian Eckes.

But when the caution flag flew with 13 laps remaining for Harrison Burton, Chastain's nearly one-second lead had been evaporated and put Eckes, Stewart Friesen and Todd Gilliland all with fresher tires in the footprints of Chastain's No. 45 CarShield Chevrolet Silverado.

When the green flag waved with seven laps remaining, despite spinning his tires, Chastain was able to fend off a charge from Eckes and eventually pulled away from his challengers to earn his second Gander Trucks win of the season.

On the last lap, Gilliland battled his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Eckes for second, but Eckes saw an impressive performance end up in the Turn 2 wall after contact with Friesen for the second consecutive season at Gateway.

Chastain finished 0.704 seconds ahead of Gilliland and picked up a $50,000 bonus in the final race of the Gander Outdoors Trip Truck Challenge.

"These Niece guys went home, and we were mad, felt like we had one taken from us," said a jubilant Chastain. "Phil Gould, Lonnie Rush they believed in me. I didn't want to take tires and then it was up to me to freakin hold them off, I don't know how.

"I'm going to take that money home and they're not taking it from us this time."

Chastain admitted he was nervous when the final caution waved as he knew it would face hungry challengers on the restart.

"Of course, scared to death, that's the last thing I wanted to see," Chastain said of the Lap 146 caution. "Buzzed my tires like crazy on the restart and got to thank Todd (Gilliland) for pushing me and not wrecking me. Execution on these guys. We didn't have the fastest truck today, but we executed, and we believed in each other. Man, that feels really good."

Eckes who led twice for a race-high 57 laps was forced to settle for 14th in his second Gander Trucks start of the season.

"I made a mistake down in (Turns) 3 and 4 and we lost some track position and the 4 (Gilliland) got by me and I was looking to make the crossover move and got wrecked by the No. 52 (Friesen) again. Man, it's unfortunate, these SiriusXM guys work too hard for this. We had a great run tonight, I felt like we honestly had the best truck there at the end, I need to work on myself a little bit as far as the aero aspect of it and move on to Pocono."

Friesen finished third, ahead of Toyota Racing Development driver Chandler Smith and Iowa winner Brett Moffit to complete the top-five.

Points leader Grant Enfinger finished sixth after dominating the first two stages, Sheldon Creed, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton and Myatt Snider filling in for the suspended Johnny Sauter comprised the top-10.

With his second Gander Trucks win in his 153rd series start, Chastain becomes Playoff eligible once he enters the top-20 in the championship driver standings. With five races remaining in the regular season, Chastain sits 26th overall.

RACE RESULTS

Finish Start # Driver Sponsor/Make laps Led Points Status
1 7 45 Ross Chastain CarShield.com Chevrolet 160 21 45 Running
2 11 4 Todd Gilliland Mobil 1 Toyota 160 0 39 Running
3 4 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Chevrolet 160 20 46 Running
4 25 46 Chandler Smith iBUYPOWER/828 Logistics Toyota 160 0 35 Running
5 5 24 Brett Moffitt Destiny Homes Chevrolet 160 0 33 Running
6 2 98 Grant Enfinger Champion Power Equipment Ford 160 52 51 Running
7 12 2 Sheldon Creed # Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet 160 0 40 Running
8 6 99 Ben Rhodes Carolina Nut Ford 160 0 42 Running
9 3 88 Matt Crafton Ideal Door/Menards Ford 160 1 39 Running
10 10 13 Myatt Snider Tenda Heal Ford 160 0 38 Running
11 9 16 Austin Hill ARCO National Construction Toyota 160 4 27 Running
12 13 17 Anthony Alfredo # STEELSMITH/Oxford Energy Group Toyota 160 0 25 Running
13 18 44 Kyle Benjamin Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 160 3 24 Running
14 1 51 Christian Eckes SiriusXM Toyota 160 57 36 Running
15 14 2 Tyler Dippel # Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet 160 0 22 Running
16 8 18 Harrison Burton # Safelite AutoGlass Toyota 160 2 28 Running
17 15 22 Austin Wayne Self GO TEXAN/Flying Circle Chevrolet 159 0 20 Running
18 17 3 Jordan Anderson Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet 159 0 19 Running
19 19 12 Gus Dean # OverkillRV.com Chevrolet 158 0 18 Running
20 16 20 Spencer Boyd 1A Auto Chevrolet 158 0 17 Running
21 24 97 Jesse Little Grindstaff Rub Ford 158 0 16 Running
22 23 34 Bryant Barnhill Chevrolet 155 0 15 Running
23 21 33 Josh Reaume Colonial Countertops Chevrolet 154 0 14 Running
24 26 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 153 0 13 Running
25 27 6 Norm Benning H & H Transport Chevrolet 150 0 12 Running
26 30 32 Daniel Sasnett Surface Prep Supply Chevrolet 80 0 11 Engine
27 20 54 Natalie Decker # N29 Technologies LLC Toyota 78 0 10 Accident
28 22 8 Camden Murphy Toenjes Brick Contracting Chevrolet 47 0 9 Vibration
29 31 1 Cody McMahan Beaver Bonding Chevrolet 32 0 8 Accident
30 28 87 Tyler Ankrum # Toenjes Brick Contracting Chevrolet 14 0 7 Brakes
31 32 74 Lou Goss Kramer Service Group/A&A Haulers Chevrolet 12 0 6 Vibration
32 29 0 Gregory Rayl Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 2 0 5 Accident