Ross Chastain to return to Truck Series for Niece Motorsports at Darlington

Ross Chastain is set to get behind the wheel of a Chevy truck this week at Darlington Raceway, the second start he’ll make this season in the NASCAR Truck Series.

He will race the No. 45 truck for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, a 147-lap race that will take drivers just over 200 miles.

Chastain was originally scheduled to make five starts this season in the NASCAR Truck Series. This will be his second of the season after an earlier start at the Circuit of the Americas in March. Chastain finished fifth in that race.

Other races Chastain is set to take part in are North Wilkesboro in May, Pocono in July and Indianapolis Raceway Park in August.

“I love coming to race in the Truck Series,” Chastain said in a press release earlier this year. “I’m thankful to Al Niece and everyone at Niece Motorsports for allowing me to get behind the wheel of these Chevrolets.

“We’re going to do our best to go out and win races and compete for an Owner’s Championship. It would mean a lot to me to be able to bring that home to Al Niece.”

Kevin Harvick weighs in on Ross Chastain wreck at Texas Motor Speedway

In one of Ross Chastain’s most recent events, he got into a last-lap wreck when he got tangled up with WIlliam Byron.

Kevin Harvick was in the booth and had a fantastic view on the moment where Byron got into the back of Chastain, sending the No. 1 from a top five finish to a rough spot on the final lap. On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, the former NASCAR champion elaborated on what he saw.

“Just watching it from the initial angles that we showed it, just you know, it looked like, it looked like the No. 24 just kind of spun the No. 1 out,” Harvick stated. “Then as you go back and analyze it, it looks like the No. 1 may have gotten tight up off the corner, and came down to try to, you know, put himself in a position to be in front of the No. 24. But when you see those in-cars from the dash cameras, I think we can see it either way.

“Honestly, I think Ross had to lift for just a second, and came down and tried to a little block a little bit, but the No. 24 and never really thought about lifting. I think it’s the last lap thing, and so I can see it from both sides of the fence right here. But in the end, the No. 1 car was in the fence and wrecked.”

Evidently, Harvick doesn’t believe either driver is necessarily innocent in this situation. Both could’ve handled things better, but the No. 1 certainly got the raw end of the whole ordeal.

“Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how these two navigate this, because I could see how either side could say, ‘I was frustrated with how you drove or blocked, or how you didn’t cut me any slack whatsoever.’ You know, it’s one thing to run into the back of me, it’s another thing to run over me,” Harvick added. “But I can also see, ‘Well, you shouldn’t have blocked, or you had to lift,’ or whatever this scenario is in that particular moment.”

On3’s Steve Samra also contributed to this report.