Ross Chastain on being cheap, watermelon seasonality, and his love(?) for Valentines Day: 12 Ques

Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing, who next week returns to the site of his first career Cup Series win at Circuit of the Americas.

1. You must pick one chore or obligation to do every day for a year. But if you make it the whole year doing this, you never have to do this chore again. So what would you pick?

I live alone, so I don’t have a lot of chores. Laundry. It’s laundry.

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You do your own laundry?

Yeah. And I just would rather it just appear clean and folded and hung.

Can’t you pay somebody to do that? Now that you’re big-time …

It’s expensive, man. I did that when I lived at Bobby Dotter’s shop (when Chastain first moved to North Carolina). I had no washer and dryer, so I would take it to a wash-and-fold in Mooresville. It added up. I was spending more on laundry than I did on my clothes. (Laughs)

2. Can you describe how you are as a passenger in a street car?

Oh, terrible. I push my imaginary brake pedal a lot. I feel like people are not slowing down in time. I have a lot of criticism.

Do you air that criticism?

I do! I just kind of word-vomit. I would rather ride, but then I struggle to not say something.

So you’d rather ride with a good driver, specifically.

I still would rather ride with any driver (than drive himself). If I’m in the back row, then I can be quiet because I’m so far back, they can’t hear me anyway. But if I’m in the front passenger seat? Yeah, not good.

3. What is an app on your phone you love using and think more people should know about?

I’ve not met many people who are less well-versed in iPhones than me. I don’t have any groundbreaking things.

You’ve just got the standard stuff? No games?

No, no games.

What do you do on a flight?

Lots of downloaded Netflix. I binge shows. Just pick a random one and let it play.

4. What do you do to make yourself feel better when you’re having a crappy day?

I have less crappy days than the average. Especially for a race-car-driver-level mentality. At times in the past, I would manifest myself into thinking everything was a bad day. Now I do something productive I feel will help me in the car, whether it’s watching some film, watching an old race — preferably one I did better than worse in — or maybe jump on iRacing. I do something to give me that thought I’ve done 30 minutes of work to be better.

5. I asked people on Twitter to give me a Dear Abby-style advice question about their life and I’m changing it for each driver. I picked a random one for you. This person says: “My co-worker clips her nails at her desk. Am I wrong for being grossed out by this? What can I say to get her to stop?”

Yeah, that’s gross. That’s terrible!

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You look horrified.

Because you know they don’t all go into the trash can. There’s just rogue nails floating around the office. Gosh. I am guilty of the occasional nervous pick at (a nail). I don’t bite them, but when I’m nervous or if I’m thinking about something really seriously, I’ll catch myself with a nail half torn off.

But not a conscious clipping — on company time. Even if you can’t see them, I can just imagine being a cubicle over and you just hear that clip sound. And once you know what it is, you could almost probably hear the nail land somewhere on the desk. (Laughs) Oh, that’s terrible.

So should this person …

Yeah, you gotta get them to stop. Do that on your own time somewhere else. I just don’t want to hear it. And definitely make sure you’re cleaning it up.

You’d walk by and look down their desk…

And then they’d file them at the end, so there’s like a powder laying around! Just this dusty powder. (Laughs)

6. The next question concerns a pop-culture debate. This interview is coming out during St. Patrick’s Day week, so rank these holidays in order of your favorite to least favorite: St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Valentine’s Day.

Three terrible holidays! I was thinking like Christmas, New Year’s here …

I was thinking about putting July 4 in there, but that would be P1 because of watermelon (Chastain and his family are watermelon farmers), so it would have been too easy.

Memorial Day is our holiday for Florida watermelons. Georgia is July 4.

Oh, I didn’t realize that.

I’ve never done anything for St. Patrick’s Day. So that’s just an odd one I don’t take advantage of.

Halloween? Never really got too into it. I dressed up as a kid, but nothing too crazy. So I guess that’s second.

Valentine’s Day, I feel like girls look at it from one point of view and guys look at it from another point of view. As long as everybody is happy at the end of the night, I think we’re OK.

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So you’re fine with it because you can make somebody happy and shower them with gifts or whatever and take them to a nice dinner.

Yes …

… and you don’t care, but they care, so you make them happy.

I care! I’m a caring person! It’s a good thing. Show some extra appreciation.

OK, so the clickbait headline for this is “Ross Chastain loves Valentine’s Day.”

Sure, yeah. Tell everybody I’m a caring guy.

Just don’t meet me.

7. The next one is a wild-card question where I’m mixing it up for each person. We recently did Zoom calls during the Fontana qualifying rainout, and all the other drivers were in the infield sitting in their motorhomes.

Were those marble walls in one of them? You think they were like tile marble?

Very fancy. But you were doing the Zoom from your hotel, so it seems like you don’t have a motorhome, even though you’re a big-time famous race car driver now. It’s one thing to not buy a jet, but you haven’t even bought a motorhome, it seems like. Why not?

I actually have lived the motorhome life. I owned a fifth-wheel toy hauler and I towed it around a bunch of tracks a few years ago. Then I sold it to my uncle and bought a 2000 Monaco Windsor. It just has two slides on the driver’s side, so it doesn’t open up very big and it’s 23 years old. I’ve actually only taken it to one race; I took it to the (Daytona) 5oo in 2021. I haven’t taken it since. My brother and dad use it more than me. They keep it in Florida and my dad just brought it to the 500 and stayed in it.

So I do have one, but I haven’t fully grasped the thought of paying for it to come all around the country just for a little convenience factor. And then also, you’ve got to pay somebody to drive it. And I’m too cheap. Like if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna pay somebody well — and I’m not willing to do that yet.

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When I bought the motorhome, I thought I was getting ready to start traveling in it. Maybe pay somebody part-time to drive it. But the more I’ve evolved, I actually do better getting away from the track at night. My problem was in the fifth-wheel, I would lay there and just think about racing, and I couldn’t sleep — on top of people partying and loud music (in the infield).

So I actually feel better getting away from the track. Just the physical process of driving out of the tunnel — that’s my mind releasing the track. Seriously, it’s pretty wild. Once I consciously realized that, I didn’t put any more effort into upgrading the motorhome. And I would need to upgrade if it was gonna go all the time.

That makes sense. Do you get to pick the hotels where you stay, or do you just stay with the team?

Stay where the team does.

So you don’t get hotel points. You’re not a frequent hotel points person?

No, I’m not one of those weirdos.

It adds up to free vacations, Ross! You’re missing out on free stuff!

I want the convenience of not thinking about it. If I booked my own travel, I would book it on Monday of the (race) week, so I would never get good hotels. So I just let (Terry) Lane handle it at Trackhouse.

8. In your career, what’s the deal that came closest to happening that ended up not working out?

Mine is public. I was sitting in the Phoenix media center in my white button-up (shirt) announcing a full Xfinity (Series) effort for 2019. And 30 days later, I was at the farm (with no ride). (Editor’s note: Chastain was supposed to run the No. 42 Xfinity car for Chip Ganassi Racing, but the team was forced to shut down after it lost funding following an FBI raid on sponsor DC Solar.)

That’s an obvious one.

Yeah. Xfinity for 2019 was supposed to be full-time in the 42. Didn’t happen.

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9. Who is a person that you would be starstruck by when meeting them?

My face probably wouldn’t show it. I’ve been told that a lot lately — that my face doesn’t show much emotion.

Do you agree with that?

I don’t know. I mean, I only look at myself in the mirror.

I’d like to meet like Kevin Hart (or other) funny people. I’ve been to one of his shows, and I just like hearing funny people talk.

I’m probably more nervous around high executives. When some big-time Chevy brass comes in, I’m like, “Oh, I don’t want to say something wrong.” Or when I answer questions publicly, I think: “I wonder if they ever read this.” But it’s more like the fallout of what might happen if I got in trouble.

10. What is the single most important skill a race-car driver can possess?

Driving a car fast? (Laughs)

Well, there’s something that goes into that, I assume.

(Shrugs) The single most important skill is just driving it fast.

How do you do that? Is it that you’re just fearless? Great hand-eye coordination?

No, not hand-eye. I am not good at that. Everything we measure on, I’m one of the worst in the gar— I probably shouldn’t say that out loud.

It’s not a skill for me, it’s a way of thinking and an attitude of, “You can’t stop.” If I had stopped on the fourth time that I probably should have in my career, I wouldn’t be here today. But I outlasted a lot of guys. There were so many people, boys and girls, with better opportunities; but when the (opportunities) went south, they quit. And I just kept coming back.

Every day you wake up, it’s a new day. You do have to forget about it, but you also have to learn from it. We’re all a piece of our past. Put it behind you and move on.

That’s a good quote. Did you see that on a T-shirt or a poster or did you make that up? “We’re all a piece of our past.”

No. We’re all a piece of our past. Or we’re all a slice of our past — a slice of watermelon. I can see that on a Melon Man shirt (from his apparel line).

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11. What life lessons from a young age stick with you and affect your daily decisions as an adult?

I’m cheap. My dad was cheap. I’m cheap.

Is that good thing?

I think I drive a hard bargain. I mainly drive a hard bargain by not buying things. The easiest way to be cheap and frugal with your money is just not buy the things that aren’t totally necessary. The people who know me, if you asked them, would all 100 percent agree I am cheap.

But that doesn’t change? I mean, you finished second in points last year. You’ve made it. But still …?

I want to do the safest things I can with the money I’ve made. I’m not gonna go crazy and try to quadruple it. I just want it to be safe and maybe make a little bit on itself.

So none of us are getting the ride on your private jet anytime soon.

I don’t think so. Maybe the free seat on the team plane that I get.

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. The last one was Corey LaJoie. His question for you is: “How long did it take you to shake the mindset of not feeling like you belong contending for top-fives and wins after driving sub-par equipment for your entire career?”

I still work through it. I still catch myself looking around under caution and think, “Oh, there’s Kevin Harvick next to me and I’ve just been ahead of him the entire last tire run.” It’s still a work in progress. It hasn’t ended yet.

That’s pretty cool, though. It’s surreal you’re in that situation and you can catch yourself in that moment and appreciate it.

Yeah. It’s like my first Cup race, I remember looking around and racing Paul Menard for the free pass and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. at one point. We had a little fresher tires, but it was still on the lead lap, racing. And I still have those feelings about certain guys.

The next interview will be with Ben Rhodes. Do you have a question I can ask him?

You’ve run one Cup race. What are you willing to change about your current career and life to run one more?

GO DEEPER

Ross Chastain: The Athletic's NASCAR Person of the Year

(Top photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images)

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