Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Ross Chastain Interview | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

Kevin Harvick is joined by Ross Chastain following his big win at Kansas in this week's 'Victory Lap.' Ross explains what his emotions were like following the win and how his team can build on this win going into next season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR and Fox. And this week, we actually have somebody in the chair for the victory lap, Ross Chastain. And we appreciate you taking the time to stop by for a few minutes and tell us about your weekend. Well, first off, congratulations. Thank you. That was a, I guess the last 30-ish laps, 35 laps or so had to be a little bit stressful. But you got a heck of a restart there at the end. Tell us about that last sequence to get the lead.

Yeah. came off pit road second and I was actually kind of relieved that Martin had to do the choose because it's a 50-50. I could win from the bottom. I could win from the top and I could lose from either one as well. So I told Phil Surgeon on the radio like happy he gets to make it. Because Phil was telling me like, oh, they're talking about it. They're pretty undecided. And yeah, I got a really good launch.

I'm really proud of that. And then after the launch, I had no push. Like the 24 did not get to me to push. but the 48 luckily got to the left rear of the 19. So this is actually the first time I'm actually seeing this. Somehow they got three wide and then that set us free. Yeah, I think when that 48 got beside the 19 and just slowed him down so much, you were actually lucky that you were clear of everybody at that point.

You made the right commitment. When you go back to the start of the weekend and you look at it, you know, it's been a racetrack that you've run well at, you've qualified well at, you've done all those things. How did the car feel from practice and throughout the race? Was it a scenario? I heard you say after the race that it didn't feel great, but it all worked out. And you guys were able to get to victory lane anyway.

I'll back up to our DIL, our simulator time. Daniel and I worked together this week, and I thought, honestly, the 99 was better. Leaving Wednesday, afternoon, I thought we both thought the 99 was better. And we made tweaks when we left there. They changed some springs and things on the one car. I'm not sure what the 99 did. and then practice, even though we were both one-two, I felt like the 99 was better.

He was in dirtier air and was basically the same lap time as me. And then I did not hold on very well in the long run. And then qualifying, he was better. So all the way to Saturday night, I thought the 99's better. Like, he's going to, I'm going to be chasing him all day. And in the race, it wasn't the case. I was able to drive forward, which is the opposite of normal. Normally we qualify well, but I can't usually hang on that well. I can't race. Definitely past stage one. I usually struggle. So that was the opposite. We were able to drive forward all day.

When you look at the scenario that you're in, you know, I've been in this scenario before where you're, you know, you're in the race, but you're out of the playoffs. And to me, you're the type of person that takes a sense of pride in these types of scenarios for the last 10 weeks. And I think that showed through with the way. that you guys raced and being able to get to Victory Lane. You did the exact same thing in the playoffs, but still not in the championship race at the end of last year, went to Victory Lane at Phoenix. What is that motivation? Because I think you're underestimated

as far as your work ethic. I don't think there's anybody that outworks you. I know that you're in that top top couple guys that comes with the work ethic. And I think being able to get past those scenarios where you could just let you. down and say that you're not into it or whatever the case is and you're out of the playoffs. That seems to be the opposite with you. And I feel like you take a sense of pride in that.

Is that a fair assessment? I don't know any different. I mean, what else would I be doing? We try to sell watermelons and help the farm however I can during the week. And that's second to the race car. So when I wake up this morning a little later than most mornings, I was not going to call you at 7 a.m. this morning. I could have called you a 7 because I did see the sun come up this morning. That's good. But yeah, I just don't know what else I would be doing. So we just keep showing up and I wrecked at Pocono early in the race.

I didn't drive any different that day than I did yesterday. I still drove it in the fence yesterday. It just was easier and I was able to keep going and kept us in the race. Pocono when I hit the fence, it was it was total. So, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't view it as a sense of like pride or that I'm trying harder than anybody else. It's just, it's kind of just natural. It's just what feels normal to me. I just get up. And I wasn't always that way. When I lived with Hornaday, when I live with Ron, that was when I kind of switched to like waking up early because I wanted to wake up before Ron. Ron was at the point

in his career where, like, he's like, you don't need to be at the shop every day. day, man, let those guys do their work. Let's go to Daytona early. And I'm like, no, I'm going to the shop. And that was kind of when it switched. So I heard a lot about you when I live there. And Miss Lindy told stories. I won't tell all of them. But they were good ones. Yeah, yeah. So I was below age, I'll say. So I was their DD. But I will say that like when I was younger, definitely growing up at the farm and stuff. I didn't wake up early. I didn't. My dad had to push me to get me up and stuff. So I'd say around 2013, it kind of changed for me. And I remember like getting up and leaving Ron's house driving over to the BKR shop when I drove for Brad and that kind of stuff is where it kind of switched

for me. So I don't know. I don't view it as like I'm trying to do anything different. It just it became natural once I got a little bit older. Yeah. Well, I think I think he doesn't give himself enough credit for for the work ethic piece of it because it's it's not it's not the norm. And I think that that bleeds over to the guys that are working on your car. because they know the expectation of how you roll in. And that was always something that Rodney and I talked about. You know, the expectation was for us to show up and give 100%. And if we showed up and gave 100%, then the rest of the guys knew that they were going to be the weak link if they didn't.

As you go into the rest of these races, and I think you need to come back and sit in the chair for the long interview, because I think we could tell some fun stories about, you know, just the way that you came through and the things that you did growing up. I think a lot of that is just normal to you. So as you go through these last several races and you go and you do what you did this weekend, obviously that has to give you some motivation to be able to, I know you say you want to do it again, but what are the racetracks you're looking forward to to be able to, and you can't say all of them? You can only pick one or two that you're looking forward to that you think are the strengths of trackhouse

that are going to give you that best shot to win, but also say, okay, these were our weaknesses this year. that we worked on and we got better and leading into 2025. Gosh, that's stuff. I do want to touch on one thing about my team. I actually take more motivation,

honestly, from them than I think they do me because our car chief David Farrow, like, he leads by example. He's the most dedicated guy on our team, and he leads the team by that way. And it's silent. It's not loud. It's not in your face, but you just see it.

So I will say that I can't outwork him, and that's what motivates me. me some days when I'm like the alarm's going off and I don't want to get up it's like what's Pharaoh doing he's already been up he's gosh he was probably up two hours ago um but when I when I think about the races um I mean the road courses have been such a focal point for me to try to try to just get to the level of my teammates so Daniel is next level when it comes to like carting and when we go out to the motorplex at track house it just what he does in the cart and will be an equal cart so

and he can just do more in the cart. And then I see Shane on the simulator and I see him at track, obviously. And the things that he can do, I couldn't do it six months ago or even two months ago. And Watkins-Len was a really big step forward and Shane taught me a lot.

So going into the roval has been the most challenging track for me. Like by far, every car I've driven, I've crashed, I go off and I don't even, like, I don't even have a good concept for like how to flow through the corners in the infield. Now with the new

front stretch chicane and the way they keep changing the turtles every year, like it doesn't come natural to me. So leaning on those guys is really big. So just seeing an increase in performance at the roval will be big. And then all the ovals will they'll come with whatever they are, we keep working.

But the road course is what I can talk about the road course and the the Watkins Glen scenario of qualifying on the pole and then you go and go to Kansas this week and win the race and you're already talking about a race that's two weeks away. It seems to me as though nothing has changed in the way that you guys repair, but obviously they've made the cars better and faster. And so when you look back at at the beginning of the year and you say, okay, we were good here, what was it about the cars? We were not good here. What was it about the cars and the things

that you guys were fighting that kind of led to the performance issues that didn't was it something that were the cars loose tight where do you think that deficiency was because you've obviously overcame those oh clue i love it oh no that's what i love about you and and i think it's it's important to understand that this guy um you know drives every week and he and he says i don't have a clue and no and i think that's that's that's important to know because of the preparation that comes from the driver's side. You spend a number of days in the simulator at racetracks that you don't need to be at. And, you know, I think it's, it's, it's, it's fun to see the side that, that most people don't get to see. I get to, I get to see that more often than most. And I try to pry things out

of him. And he still, he still doesn't, he still doesn't want to tell me. I can't lie, though. Like, I know, I know what I study and I know what I try to do and I see what other drivers are doing on track and teammates, Chevy teammates, and then other OEMs. But when it comes to like, what made the cars go faster and shocks and springs? Like, I gave that up a long time ago. I'm not talking shocks and springs. I'm just saying, I don't, but I really, like, what made us, like, our car did not feel great yesterday. I felt like when I qualified, I told him, I was like, I feel like I'm in dirty air and qualifying. That's what it normally feels like. Now we took off in the race with dirty air and 20th and I was able to drive forward. So yeah, it's the truth whenever I say like what they've

done different or kind of like ways we've went or balance shifts. I don't, that's up for my engineers. I have Phil Surgeon and the two mics, Mike Scarbowski and Michael Hand, that they steer that ship with track house and GM and all that. I give them my feedback. I write down a couple notes in the DIL and after practice and then that's it. Like I'm going to, to figure out what I can do best with whatever they give me. And that's what I found to be the best. When I used to try to micromanage and we need to run this much tape on the grill, we need to run the track bar at this height, like, I failed. That was when I was struggling. Yeah, those days are, those days are over. It's an, it's an engineering project. Well, you guys have done a great job.

And you've got yourself back to Victory Lane. You've been able to qualify in a poll at Watkins Glen. And so good luck for the rest of the year. And hopefully you can get the thing back to Victory. really in a couple more times and launch off a good in 2025. So you're going to come back and sit in the chair. We'll come back with more time. We want that 99 faster, longer into the race. Like I said earlier, they were, I thought they were the best of the track house cars this weekend until the race started. And obviously salvaged a good finish.

But that's where all the focus is. So I've heard people say it in years past and way before I was racing in this. But like when I was leading it then, I was like, I wish the 99 was. was running in my car second right behind me. Like I didn't want to, I'm not going to give up the win, but gosh, it's just, you know, what they have in front of all that is pretty good. So we got a lot of opportunity. Awesome.

Thank you. Yeah.