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 entire crew effort it took to propel their No. 1 Chevrolet towards NASCAR immortality.
On the crew’s store Wednesday, three days faraway from their exceptional win six miles down the street at Charlotte Motor Speedway, smiles had been nonetheless shining vivid in awe of their weekend and all it entailed. The crew churned via the wee hours of Saturday night time into Sunday morning to organize a backup automotive 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.
MORE: Full race outcomes | At-track images
Mark Cass — the crew’s setup mechanic, higher recognized via the storage as “Mud” — has been working in NASCAR for 40 years. He received his begin at age 12 portray elements and items utilized by Junior Johnson’s crew and was working hand-in-hand with the Corridor-of-Fame racer and crew proprietor by age 18. He’s labored for Larry Hedrick Motorsports, Travis Carter Enterprises and Chip Ganassi Racing all through his profession, doing just a little little bit of all the things over that point, together with work as a jackman on pit street 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 at all times eluded him.
Till now. Crew 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 Eighties.
“This is among the greatest locations I’ve ever labored,” Cass informed NASCAR.com. “Simply the individuals and Justin. He makes you consider in what he says, you understand? And which means lots. He jogs my memory numerous Junior. You knew the place you stood with Junior, and I feel Justin is form of the identical method.”
On the alternative 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 automotive 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.
“I set Chastain’s automotive up, and I used to be at house,” Cass stated. “We had been really preparing. I wish to prepare dinner on the grill, so we had been going to have just a little cookout for Memorial Day. I’ve been watching observe, and man, he’s quick.
“Properly, I stepped exterior for only a minute. Once I got here again in, we’ve crashed.”
A flat left-rear tire despatched Chastain’s automotive right into a slide in Turns 3 and 4. The automotive spun backward and swiped the skin SAFER barrier with the left aspect of the door earlier than sliding again off the banking and onto the apron. Watching from pit street, Vishinski watched as crew chief Phil Surgen and automotive chief David Fero started to evaluate and plan the subsequent steps.
“Shortly everyone sprung into motion,” Vishinski stated. “That’s the opposite half that’s so superb with this group, is that the entire total time, everyone’s absolute skilled of, OK, how will we deal with this case? If they convey the automotive again right here, get your jacks prepared. Simply be certain the automotive doesn’t drag the bottom greater than it must, proper? Simply having all that arrange and getting a plan going earlier than the automotive is even again.”
What ensued was organized chaos. Repairs on the first automotive started instantly within the storage stall — not simply with members of the No. 1 crew 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 method they may,” Vishinski stated. “It was all arms on deck, and that was a brilliant cool second. Clearly, at a really unfavorable time, to see that, it was fairly cool.”
However whereas they labored, the crew opted for a backup automotive as a substitute because the injury was deemed an excessive amount of to restore. Storage hours ended at 4 p.m. ET, which meant work would wish to proceed on the store.
“We had a goose-neck trailer and a dually sitting exterior the storage ready for us,” Vishinski stated. “So we rolled that factor out, strapped that automotive down, took our toolbox with us, and shortly 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 everyone, members from each crew 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 automotive to make the hour-long drive to Harmony.
“Probably the most superb factor is what Justin tells you: As you stroll within the store, you see 4 completely different uniforms as a result of we had 4 automobiles there,” Cass stated. “Some guys are taking the motor out of the automotive we wrecked as a result of it’s received 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 — everyone’s shifting.
“And the automotive was really executed method faster than you thought it will, as a result of that was our Nashville automotive backup. So that you needed to put the Charlotte setup beneath it, which required numerous shifting pivots and suspension elements.”
Faster than anticipated? Possibly. However these efforts lasted lengthy into the night time.
As Surgen defined Sunday night time, this automotive was going to be the crew’s backup for Nashville one week later, so it had already been correctly assembled. However when the crew 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 elements, paint-scheme vinyl wrap and a dynamometer (dyno) take a look at along with scaling and inspecting it by way of the crew’s Hawkeye laser system, ensuring all was authorized earlier than it left the store.
The ultimate batch of an estimated 10 staff went house 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 useful, swapping transaxles, including windshield glass and bleeding brakes along with different roles.
“That was my greatest factor, and it’ll proceed to be, is simply to attempt to be a sponge to all the things,” Vishinski stated. “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 how one can do all of it in case you get into conditions like that.”
That phrase — “be a sponge” — was a standard thread via the No. 1 crew all weekend. On a weekend meant to honor and bear in mind fallen navy 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 might be taken any method we wish,” Chastain stated Sunday. “I can take a look at it, and I’m at all times attempting to study. That’s what he was telling them: ‘Simply be a sponge.’ Simply at all times attempt to study one thing. Similar to I don’t know the way successful this race will have an effect on my life, I don’t know the way being a sponge will have an effect on my life, however it’s one thing I’ll always remember.”
And certainly, the crew’s efforts weren’t in useless. Chastain, Surgen and Co. labored to excellent the stability of their No. 1 automotive via all the 600-mile affair, working from a last-place beginning spot to ultimately 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 automotive. However that the whole lot of Trackhouse had a hand in Sunday’s triumph added vital weight to an incredible effort.
“That tradition right here is why you see that,” Vishinski stated. “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 perfect product on monitor as potential. All of us have that very same purpose in thoughts.”
Cass can now lay declare to successful 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 at all times needed to try this,” he stated. “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.
“I can’t even clarify to you what that felt like,” Vishinski stated, “as a result of since I used to be 5 years outdated, so long as I may bear in mind, I at all times questioned what it will be wish to be in Victory Lane of the NASCAR Cup Sequence. And at that second, I’m like, that is taking place. That is unbelievable. And for all the things that not solely the 1 crew however simply the entire firm went via within the final 36 hours, like, you may’t make that stuff up.
“It’s simply superb, you understand. And to hug the blokes and go onto pit street 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 may’t hear something. It was superb. I imply, that’s one thing I’ll always remember for the remainder of my life.”
