CONCORD, N.C. — Any win in a crown-jewel race simply means extra. However Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 win for Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing highlighted the full staff effort it took to propel their No. 1 Chevrolet towards NASCAR immortality.
On the staff’s store Wednesday, three days faraway from their exceptional win six miles down the highway at Charlotte Motor Speedway, smiles had been nonetheless shining vibrant in awe of their weekend and all it entailed. The staff churned by the wee hours of Saturday night time into Sunday morning to arrange a backup automobile that was match for Chastain to motor previous William Byron within the late levels of Sunday’s marathon race to attain his and the group’s first victory in a NASCAR main.
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Mark Cass — the staff’s setup mechanic, higher identified by the storage as “Mud” — has been working in NASCAR for 40 years. He obtained his begin at age 12 portray components and items utilized by Junior Johnson’s staff and was working hand-in-hand with the Corridor-of-Fame racer and staff proprietor by age 18. He’s labored for Larry Hedrick Motorsports, Travis Carter Enterprises and Chip Ganassi Racing all through his profession, doing a bit of little bit of every little thing over that point, together with work as a jackman on pit highway for 23 years.
A child who grew up in North Wilkesboro — now a person who lives simply east of the well-known small city in Hamptonville — Cass had gained the Daytona 500, Darlington’s Southern 500 and Indianapolis’ Brickyard 400. Previous to Sunday night time, the Coca-Cola 600 — the race he grew up admiring because the World 600 known as on the radio by Corridor-of-Fame broadcaster Barney Corridor — had all the time eluded him.
Till now. Staff proprietor Justin Marks retained Cass as a part of his operation when Marks bought Ganassi’s program in 2021. Now in his fourth season beneath the Trackhouse banner, Cass can nonetheless draw parallels from the brand new age of stock-car racing again to his roots within the Nineteen Eighties.
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“This is without doubt one of the finest locations I’ve ever labored,” Cass instructed NASCAR.com. “Simply the individuals and Justin. He makes you consider in what he says, you understand? And meaning rather a lot. He jogs my memory a number of Junior. You knew the place you stood with Junior, and I feel Justin is form of the identical manner.”
Ross Chastain drives throughout Coca-Cola 600 observe.
On the other finish of the spectrum of expertise stands Stan Vishinski, a 25-year-old tire technician and mechanic on the No. 1 roster. With origins in jap Upstate New York, some two hours north of New York Metropolis, Vishinski knew by age 5 he needed to work in NASCAR. This season is his first with Trackhouse and solely his second general, beforehand working as a rear-end mechanic at Carl Lengthy’s MBM Motorsports in 2024.
Quick ahead to final weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 15-minute commute from store to stadium in Harmony, North Carolina. In Saturday’s observe, the setup Cass helped implement on the No. 1 automobile proved practically excellent — Chastain rocketed to the highest of the board in five-lap, 10-lap and 15-lap averages regardless of posting the ninth-quickest lap general.
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“I set Chastain’s automobile up, and I used to be at residence,” Cass mentioned. “We had been really preparing. I prefer to cook dinner on the grill, so we had been going to have a bit of cookout for Memorial Day. I’ve been watching observe, and man, he’s quick.
“Nicely, I stepped outdoors for only a minute. Once I got here again in, we’ve crashed.”
A flat left-rear tire despatched Chastain’s automobile right into a slide in Turns 3 and 4. The automobile spun backward and swiped the surface SAFER barrier with the left aspect of the door earlier than sliding again off the banking and onto the apron. Watching from pit highway, Vishinski watched as crew chief Phil Surgen and automobile chief David Fero started to evaluate and plan the subsequent steps.
“Shortly all people sprung into motion,” Vishinski mentioned. “That’s the opposite half that’s so wonderful with this group, is that the entire whole time, all people’s absolute skilled of, OK, how will we deal with this example? If they create the automobile again right here, get your jacks prepared. Simply be certain the automobile doesn’t drag the bottom greater than it must, proper? Simply having all that arrange and getting a plan going earlier than the automobile is even again.”
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What ensued was organized chaos. Repairs on the first automobile started instantly within the storage stall — not simply with members of the No. 1 staff however of all 4 of Trackhouse’s entries that weekend, together with the Nos. 87, 88 and 99 automobiles.
“Even the store guys that had been there simply being followers for the weekend, they had been all there simply attempting to assist out any manner they may,” Vishinski mentioned. “It was all arms on deck, and that was an excellent cool second. Clearly, at a really unfavorable time, to see that, it was fairly cool.”
Ross Chastain
However whereas they labored, the staff opted for a backup automobile as a substitute because the harm was deemed an excessive amount of to restore. Storage hours ended at 4 p.m. ET, which meant work would want to proceed on the store.
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“We had a goose-neck trailer and a dually sitting outdoors the storage ready for us,” Vishinski mentioned. “So we rolled that factor out, strapped that automobile down, took our toolbox with us, and rapidly hightailed it again right here, and it was all arms on deck. I walked within the door and it was simply unbelievable to see. We had all people, members from each staff right here, store guys that got here in once they came upon what occurred.”
That included Cass, who put his cookout on maintain and hopped in his automobile to make the hour-long drive to Harmony.
“Essentially the most wonderful factor is what Justin tells you: As you stroll within the store, you see 4 totally different uniforms as a result of we had 4 automobiles there,” Cass mentioned. “Some guys are taking the motor out of the automobile we wrecked as a result of it’s obtained to enter the one which we’re going to get collectively. The opposite guys are placing the suspension on. Then we tune the setup up. And it was simply nearly like a ballet — all people’s shifting.
“And the automobile was really achieved manner faster than you thought it could, as a result of that was our Nashville automobile backup. So that you needed to put the Charlotte setup beneath it, which required a number of shifting pivots and suspension components.”
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Faster than anticipated? Possibly. However these efforts lasted lengthy into the night time.
As Surgen defined Sunday night time, this automobile was going to be the staff’s backup for Nashville one week later, so it had already been correctly assembled. However when the staff wanted to rework it right into a race-ready Coke 600 machine for a inexperienced flag simply 27 hours away, it wanted an overhaul of engine, suspension components, paint-scheme vinyl wrap and a dynamometer (dyno) check along with scaling and inspecting it by way of the staff’s Hawkeye laser system, ensuring all was authorized earlier than it left the store.
The ultimate batch of an estimated 10 workers went residence at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, and had been the primary ones again to the store simply three hours later.
Even in only one yr, Vishinski had loads of expertise managing a number of roles at MBM Motorsports. Within the thrash of getting the backup ready, that have got here in helpful, swapping transaxles, including windshield glass and bleeding brakes along with different roles.
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“That was my greatest factor, and it’ll proceed to be, is simply to attempt to be a sponge to every little thing,” Vishinski mentioned. “Something within the store that I can get entangled with, whether or not that’s tires, our bodies, suspension stuff, transaxle stuff, motor stuff, I need to have the ability to know tips on how to do all of it in case you get into conditions like that.”
That phrase — “be a sponge” — was a typical thread by the No. 1 staff all weekend. On a weekend meant to honor and bear in mind fallen army service members, the identify and photograph of U.S. Military Specialist Kevin McCrea rode with Chastain all weekend. Plastered on the decklid had been precisely these three phrases: Be a sponge. That was recommendation McCrea had given to his daughter, Allie, who was in attendance Sunday together with her sister, brother and mom.
“That time period or that saying may be taken any manner we wish,” Chastain mentioned Sunday. “I can take a look at it, and I’m all the time attempting to be taught. That’s what he was telling them: ‘Simply be a sponge.’ Simply all the time attempt to be taught one thing. Identical to I don’t understand how profitable this race will have an effect on my life, I don’t understand how being a sponge will have an effect on my life, but it surely’s one thing I’ll always remember.”
Ross Chastain tracks down William Byron within the Coca-Cola 600.
And certainly, the staff’s efforts weren’t in useless. Chastain, Surgen and Co. labored to excellent the steadiness of their No. 1 automobile by the whole 600-mile affair, working from a last-place beginning spot to finally passing Byron to guide the ultimate six laps en path to victory. The celebrations had been electrical — which might have been the case even had Chastain gained in Saturday’s major automobile. However that the whole thing of Trackhouse had a hand in Sunday’s triumph added vital weight to an amazing effort.
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“That tradition right here is why you see that,” Vishinski mentioned. “All people has one another’s again and we’re all on this collectively. And yeah, there could be three groups on the market, however we’re all one, attempting to go on the market and put the very best product on observe as doable. All of us have that very same purpose in thoughts.”
Cass can now lay declare to profitable all 4 of NASCAR’s crown-jewel races, a second he dreamt of since childhood.
“Simply getting your image made with that trophy was fairly particular since you all the time needed to do this,” he mentioned. “Yeah, it was an enormous win.”
Vishinski, in the meantime, celebrated his first NASCAR victory, interval. The second was even sweeter than he may have imagined.
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“I can’t even clarify to you what that felt like,” Vishinski mentioned, “as a result of since I used to be 5 years previous, so long as I may bear in mind, I all the time questioned what it could be prefer to be in Victory Lane of the NASCAR Cup Sequence. And at that second, I’m like, that is occurring. That is unbelievable. And for every little thing that not solely the 1 staff however simply the entire firm went by within the final 36 hours, like, you possibly can’t make that stuff up.
“It’s simply wonderful, you understand. And to hug the fellows and go onto pit highway and have a good time — I known as my mother proper there, proper as Ross began doing the burnout. I needed to be like, ‘Gotta go, Mother!’ as a result of you possibly can’t hear something. It was wonderful. I imply, that’s one thing I’ll always remember for the remainder of my life.”
