Ross Chastain 1-on-1: On his Hail Melon souvenir, this year's playoff approach

Ross Chastain made a name for himself over the last 18 months by winning three Cup races, making mistakes when trying to be aggressive and, of course, the Hail Melon video-game-looking move at the end of the Martinsville playoff elimination race to advance to the championship round.

After a relatively calm summer, Chastain opened the 2023 Cup playoffs Sunday with a fifth-place finish at Darlington, a solid start for the Trackhouse Racing driver who hopes to make a repeat trip to the Championship 4.

He hopes he doesn't need a move like the Hail Melon last year when he accelerated into and rode along the wall at Martinsville to pick up the spots he needed on the final lap. NASCAR has since banned the move as unsafe and Chastain was given a piece of the wall by track president Clay Campbell earlier this year. 

A few days prior to Darlington, Chastain talked with FOX Sports about the season, his relationship with competitors and the Hail Melon.

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How different is the second playoffs from the first?

It is. There was a lot of unknown for almost everybody involved in our current roles from crew chief, spotter, driver, owner going into last year. And now we've at least done it together once.

You've seemed to have a little bit of a quiet run here since Nashville in June. Do you feel good going in? And do you feel like you guys are where you need to be going into the playoffs?

I do. I wouldn't want to do this with any other group. I've got 140 employees that are putting two race cars — mine just has a different [playoff] banner on the window than [teammate] Daniel [Suarez, who missed the playoffs]. But it's two race cars, two rocket ships getting taken down to [race]. We haven't changed our procedures. Daniel and I have been together every morning to start these playoffs. We'll continue what we were doing, and I trust our processes.

Do you feel like you're in a better spot or a good spot with your competitors compared to maybe earlier this year?

I would say so, yeah. The racing on track has been nice. I'm not getting crowded up in the fence every chance they get. It's been good and had some good conversations and we'll go race. So that's ultimately what we're going to go do is go race. ... We want to win, so we'll make those decisions when we get there. 

What do you learn in the first time going through the playoffs that you hope to employ this time?

There's a lot of small moments that ended up being really big — some good for us and some bad. And just learning to embrace those moments and not live in the past — I can't control it. But also not live in the future of what I hope happens. Just live in the present: What is the next corner, the next lap, the next stage and the next race need from me and put that effort in.

You make that sound so easy but it's probably not as easy as it sounds. Why not?

If I'm blessed and fortunate enough to do it, I hope I'm working the rest of my professional driving career to figure out how to do that.

Is it because you stress out over things that you could have done? Or is it more just trying to figure out OK, how do I get to the next round?

I don't actually. I study the past, but fortunately for me, the way my brain works, it's on to the next thing, so I really have to work on focusing on the here and the now. That's what I found to be the best. Like I said, I can't control the past and I cannot control the future. I just kind of work on what's immediately in front of me. And last year, yeah, there were moments that I either was too aggressive or not aggressive enough — and not that that same scenario is going to be this year, but I've done all this once. It is OK to just be OK in some of the races when tires are blowing, people are blowing motors, crashes — it's OK to just be OK. But then there's other times where it's OK to go win, too.

How do you feel about Kansas and Bristol coming up?

If I could pick three races in NASCAR to run, my order would be Bristol, Kansas, Darlington building up to the Southern 500. We just have flip-flopped on dates. But these are the three tracks that I probably most enjoy going to — add Homestead in there as well, probably because it's so close to home.

Do you enjoy them because you're good at them? Or do you enjoy them just because they're fun to drive?

Just because. I'm not overly great at any of them. ... But, gosh, I just love making laps at them and I've watched more YouTube clips of races way before my time in the sport or even as a fan or even being alive — I watch more YouTube clips of Darlington races than I have any other track by far. I just genuinely enjoy watching cars go around that track.

(This question was earlier in the conversation but figured we'd put all the Hail Melon questions in one section) ... Is there a plan for another Hail Melon-type incident? Or are you hoping that you are not put in that position?

Nothing up these sleeves, Bob. Nothing trick. We'll just go try to scrape up as many points as we can each round and transfer through. We can win one of these or a few of these. It's OK to win. Somebody's got to. No Hail Melon. Just go beat them.

It's a little bit ways ahead, but when preparing for Martinsville, will you watch the finish or will you think that's OK, I know I can't do that so there's no use to watch? 

I study the races, so I will watch it through to its entirety. But I'll pick something else to focus on. It's not always about watching the 1 car [of myself] go through the corner, it can be the 11 [of Denny Hamlin] and the 6 [of Brad Keselowski] coming to the finish. The 24 [of William Byron] and 22 [of Joey Logano] racing. There are things that you can learn from watching that stuff. Everybody's eyes are on the 1 car. I get it. It doesn't look real. It's crazy. But if you look away from there down by the normal driving line at the curb and see all the side-by-side racing and how they were coming to the finish and how they beat each other for those one spots, there's a lot to be learned.

Do you feel like you're watching those differently now than you were a year ago?

Oh, yeah. Last year, Bob, I was in the car (laughs).

I'm asking do you feel like you now kind of know what to look for as far as what to learn for the end of these races then maybe what you knew a year ago?

Absolutely. Last year, 2022, the first year of the Gen-7 [Next Gen] car, we didn't have old races to watch so I wasn't watching old races of tracks we were racing at because it was a totally different car and we realized in testing it was racing different. But now when we watch them this year, the 1 car is up front, leading, fighting for the wins, restarting in the front two rows with shots to win races. And I'm definitely studying what I did wrong, what I did right and how I got beat most times.

Another Hail Melon question. Are you looking forward to Martinsville just in how often that highlight will be shown during that week?

I love Martinsville just as it is aside from me scraping Mr. Campbell's wall all the way through {Turns] 3 and 4. I eat a couple of [the Martinsville signature] fully loaded hotdogs when I'm there each weekend. It's just an experience and an awesome track that I grew up watching my heroes Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson race at and win at and I wanted to be like them. I'll hear it on the loudspeaker. I'll see it on the big screen in the infield and enjoy the moment. We did it this spring and I don't take it for granted how special the Hail Melon move was. 

They gave you a piece of the wall, right? Where is it?

They kept it for now because it's like 25-30 feet long. I don't have room for that in my living room. I'm not there right now. Mr. Campbell held on to it. We still have the car at Trackhouse. We have not placed them together anywhere yet.

What To Watch For

At Kansas Speedway in the last year, be aware for cars out of control. Whether it's tires blowing or cars just on the edge, especially when side-by-side with another car, snapping loose.

Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick were among those out early a year ago in the playoff race. Christopher Bell got too aggressive and spun late in the second stage in the spring, and Kyle Busch hit the wall jockeying for position when the green flew just a few laps before the end of the stage.

But a spin won't necessarily end a driver's day. Kyle Larson spun early in the spring after contact with Bubba Wallace and came back to take the lead until the final lap when Denny Hamlin and Larson had contact with Hamlin making the pass.

Wallace won this race a year ago and was fourth in the spring, so the driver one point behind the current cutoff will look to capitalize.

Expect the playoff drivers and Toyotas to run well if past Next Gen races are any indication.

But there is another thing to remember — this is the first race on a non-drafting 1.5-mile track since the 600-mile race at Charlotte in May. So practice will be a key indicator if any team has improved (or digressed) since then.

Thinking Out Loud

Denny Hamlin's contract extension and the 23XI Racing extension with Toyota was something that took longer than expected to be finalized but produced the expected result.

If 23XI Racing really wanted or got an incredible deal from another manufacturer, Hamlin would have had to race for his own team or another team other than JGR, his home for his entire Cup career.

Yes, Kyle Busch left last year, but Busch wasn't having the success in recent years and as negotiations lingered and Ty Gibbs started showing he could race in Cup (at likely a much cheaper rate than a two-time Cup champion), the sides never agreed. Hamlin is having success at JGR. He had no reason to leave and apparently had agreed to terms with JGR several weeks, if not months, ago. He just needed to get the 23XI deal done with Toyota to be able to sign the deal.

With an ownership group that is relatively new to the NASCAR business, it would make sense that when their Toyota deal was up for renewal, they might wonder what other manufacturers could offer. But Toyota is known to support its top teams and also controls its engine program (Ford and Chevy rely on other teams/engine builders) and eventually it appeared to convince any doubts those at 23XI might have had to sign a multiyear deal.

It was the best deal for Hamlin. He likely will close his full-time driving career at JGR (he is now signed through at least 2025 if not a year or two longer depending on the terms and options) and he has 23XI solidified with Toyota, which typically does its deals in at least three-year increments and probably was willing to go even a little longer with 23XI.

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They Said It

"I feel completely fine, so why stop? It's OK to not race, but it's OK to race, and I think that's what really needs to be said here." —Ryan Preece on not missing a race following his scary wreck at Daytona

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.