CUP: Ross Chastain’s Chase chances take a hit after freak drivetrain issue in Loudon
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: NASCAR on USA, @NASCARonUSA
Ross Chastain picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his #1 Kubota Chevrolet lost the engine after 45 of 301 laps.
The finish, which came in Chastain’s 284th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since July 27, 2025 at Indianapolis, 39 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 43rd for the #1, the 729th from the engine, and the 895th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 81st for the #1, the 1,169th for the engine, and the 2,061st for Chevrolet.
After scoring his first six career Cup Series wins following the introduction of NASCAR’s current NextGen car, Chastain has struggled through a winless 2026 – at least on the Cup side. Running part-time for Niece Motorsports in the Truck Series, he’s earned three top-five finishes in eight starts. And while driving for three different teams across ten races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, he won a weather-shortened race in Charlotte. On the Cup side, Chastain’s lone top-five finish was a 3rd at Atlanta back in February, the only week all season that he held a spot inside the Chase field. He arrived in New Hampshire 18th in points, 63 points below the cutline.
Chastain joined the 35 other Chartered entries for Sunday’s race in Loudon, a track where he finished in the Top Ten in four of the last five races. It also marked his first race with sponsorship from Kubota since Sears Point back in June. In opening practice, he ranked 14th with a best lap of 29.408 seconds (129.516mph). His was the 25th car on track for qualifying, where he improved to 12th on the starting grid with a lap of 29.229 seconds (130.309mph).
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Cody Ware, whose #51 Chevrolet carried a special paint scheme to mark the 51st anniversary of team sponsor Schluter Systems. He’d incur a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments along with 33rd-place qualifier Ty Dillon in the #10 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet. The threat of rain pushed the race’s start time up an hour, then led to everyone starting on wet-weather tires. Ware joined the field on the damp track on Sunday, but during the pace laps, Carson Hocevar spun his #77 Modo Casino Chevrolet off Turn 4. Heavier rains followed, leading to a red flag and a further half-hour delay.
After the rain had passed, and track drying efforts turned toward preparing pit road, Ware followed the field back onto the track, where his last completed lap timed in at 1,892.729 seconds, or approximately 31 minutes and 30 seconds. When the green flag dropped, Ware in the high lane pulled ahead of Ty Dillon to his inside with Ware crossing the stripe 4.577 seconds back of the leader to Dillon’s 4.912. But Ware washed up the track coming off Turn 2, letting Dillon move past and build up a gap by the entrance to Turn 3.
Reddick pits after his early spin while leading. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
A moment later, polesitter and race leader Tyler Reddick spun his #45 Chumba Casino Toyota off Turn 4, letting William Byron make the pass for the lead. Reddick avoided the wall, but by sliding up the track blocked the path for both Denny Hamlin in the #11 National Debt Relief Toyota and Chris Buescher in the #17 Trimble Ford. Both made slight contact with Reddick’s stopped car before all three continued around the oval with Reddick now in last place. Reddick made a stop under the ensuing caution, getting fresh wet-weather tires and allowing his crew to look over his car for damage. He then accelerated out of Pit Stall No. 1 and returned to the track without losing a lap. Buescher also made a stop, taking last place briefly on Lap 5 before Reddick retook it on Lap 6.
When the race restarted on Lap 7, Reddick trailed the field by open track, showing 5.801 seconds back of the lead. By Lap 9, Reddick was 7.763 seconds back of the lead and about a second behind 35th-place Buescher. The gap steadily increased through Lap 11, when Reddick was 10.518 behind to Buescher’s 9.394. Further ahead, Ware climbed as high as 30th before he slipped back to 35th on Lap 14, 12.883 seconds back of the lead to Reddick’s 14.386. On Lap 16, Ware then caught and passed Noah Gragson in the #4 MillerTech Batteries Ford, but by Lap 18, Reddick had caught both Gragson and Ware as they ran nose-to-tail in Turn 1. The pair got a good drive off, opening up about a half-second gap, and Gragson dropped Ware back to 35th. This led to Lap 21, where Reddick got a good drive off Turn 4 and passed Ware, dropping the #51 back to last place.
Sunday’s race was sponsored by Dollar Tree, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary, and thus put extra emphasis on their existing team sponsorship with Legacy Motor Club. Both Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek ran Dollar Tree green cars, and Nemechek ran double-duty in a Dollar Tree-backed TRICON Garage Toyota for Saturday’s Truck Series race. Nemechek’s #42 Cup car was even renumbered #40 for the occasion. But the first glimpse of the car on USA’s broadcast came on Lap 22, when Nemechek spun off Turn 4, but didn’t draw a caution. Nemechek had been running 27th, just ahead of a recovering Hamlin. The two didn’t make contact when Nemechek slid up the track and hit the wall with the right side, sending him spinning down to the apron. Now in last place, he was quickly caught by leader Byron on Lap 24, who put him a lap down entering Turn 1. Ware lost his first lap on Lap 28, taking the “Lucky Dog” from Nemechek, who on Lap 34 lost a second lap to new leader Shane Van Gisbergen.
The track was now drying rapidly, shredding the wet-weather tires into bits of rubber spread across the track’s high lane. NASCAR elected to throw a caution on Lap 40 to swap to dry-weather tires in non-competitive stops, so long as another caution didn’t come out sooner. On Lap 39, just moments before the caution, Chastain was running 14th when his car started trailing white smoke from behind the right-front wheel on corner entry. This, too, didn’t bring out the yellow, and Chastain steadily lost spots before the yellow finally fell on Lap 41. Nemechek, who remained two laps down, immediately pulled down pit road to address a bent right-rear toe link that had affected his steering. “Sorry, guys, it was on me,” said the driver as repairs continued. His car was serviced in Pit Stall No. 40, the second stall after pit entry.
On Lap 43, Chastain also pitted his car in Pit Stall No. 28, just a few stalls before the starting line. The crew soon removed the right-front wheel and looked under the hood, where smoke appeared to be coming off the headers on the right side of the engine. On Lap 44, Chastain’s crew guided him behind the wall, using the opening directly behind his stall. Nemechek returned to the track on Lap 45, now showing five laps down while Chastain fell a second lap down to the leaders in 35th spot. Now in a garage stall, Chastain re-fired his engine, but it sounded like it had trouble turning over. By Lap 48, Nemechek dropped Chastain to last place, and on Lap 51, shortly after the restart, Chastain’s team said they were done for the day. The USA broadcast reported it was a drivetrain issue, and showed Chastain was out of the car, which was now on jack stands. On Lap 53, Chastain’s on-board camera shut off, ad on Lap 57, he was declared out by NASCAR, citing engine trouble.
Chastain now heads into next Saturday’s regular season finale at Daytona 19th in points, 81 markers below the cutline.
Finishing 35th was the #88 SuperFile Chevrolet of Connor Zilisch, who following this week’s announcement of moving to Hendrick Motorsports to drive the #48 in 2028 was running strong in the opening laps, only to lock the brakes and collide with a wrecking Riley Herbst’s #35 Monster Energy Toyota on Lap 225. Herbst took 34th, just behind 33rd-place Erik Jones, whose #43 Dollar Tree Toyota broke a transaxle and limped off Turn 2 in the final laps. Rounding out the group was Austin Dillon, who lost 15 laps for repairs on his #3 Breztri Chevrolet following a multi-car tangle on Lap 84, ultimately returning to the race on Lap 100.
Austin Dillon during his extended stop following a multi-car accident. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
Berry continues impressive streak while Preece and Gragson turn heads
One year ago in this very race, Josh Berry ended a streak of three consecutive last-place finishes, bounced back from a spin on the backstretch that briefly put him in last, and charged back to finish in 2nd spot. He ran even more impressively on Sunday, his #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford leading the second-most laps to race winner Ryan Blaney, pacing the field for 73 laps and finishing 3rd. This continues a streak of four consecutive top-ten finishes following his crash in North Wilkesboro, the first time the Wood Brothers have earned Top Tens in that many races in a row since June to July 1994, when Morgan Shepherd was driving their #21 Citgo Ford. That summer, Shepherd earned five consecutive top-ten finishes, including the race at Loudon, where he finished 6th.
Ryan Preece led 17 laps – his most since Talladega in the spring – and finished 9th in the #60 Mohawk Northeast, Inc. Ford, earning his second top-ten finish in the last four races. And right behind him in 10th, Noah Gragson earned just his second top-ten finish of the year and first since his season-best 9th in Talladega, driving his #4 MillerTech Batteries Ford. Gragson, who made a spirited charge in the high lane during the final laps, had just signed an extension with Front Row Motorsports.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #1 in a Cup race at New Hampshire.
*All three of Trackhouse Racing’s Cup teams now each have at least one last-place finish in 2026.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #1-Ross Chastain / 41 laps / engine
35) #88-Connor Zilisch / 222 laps / crash
34) #35-Riley Herbst / 222 laps / crash
33) #43-Erik Jones / 251 laps / transaxle
32) #3-Austin Dillon / 282 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Trackhouse Racing (6)
2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing (4)
3rd) Hendrick Motorsports (3)
4th) 23XI Racing, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports (2)
5th) Garage 66, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Toyota (5)
3rd) Ford (4)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
