NASCAR: A new driver is leading the point standings

For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Ross Chastain leads the point standings following Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway.

Ross Chastain had a career year during the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, his first behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing Team.

When the Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned team acquired Chip Ganassi Racing and expanded from one car to two, they brought in Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chastain to fill their second seat.

Chastain earned his first two Cup Series victories, qualified for the postseason for the first time, and finished in a career-high second place in the championship standings in his first season with the organization.

But one thing Ross Chastain didn’t do in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season was lead the point standings.

Of course, you could technically make the case that, as a Championship 4 driver, he was in a four-way tie for the lead heading into the finale, but that is hardly the same thing as sitting alone atop the standings for the first time in your career.

Sitting alone atop the standings for the first time in his career is exactly what he is doing now.

Chastain opened up the year with a ninth place finish in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and he followed it up with a third place finish in the Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

With 92 points, Chastain sits one point ahead of Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who finished those two races in second and 10th, respectively. Logano, the reigning series champion, led the standings after the Daytona 500.

Just 12 other active full-time drivers, including the seven former champions, have ever led the standings on their own at any point throughout their Cup Series careers.

The most recent addition to that list had been Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, who took the lead after the second of three races in the round of 16 of the playoffs last year.

Excluding playoff point resets, the most recent addition to that list had been Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who was tied for the lead after winning last year’s Daytona 500 and then took sole possession of the lead after a 12th place finish in the following weekend’s race at Auto Club Speedway.

It has been a strong start to the 2023 season as a whole for Trackhouse Racing Team, as Daniel Suarez, the team’s original driver when they entered the Cup Series in 2021, has recorded finishes of seventh and fourth place and is the only driver yet to finish eighth or lower.

As a result, both Suarez and Chastain sit inside the top five in the standings, and Trackhouse Racing Team don’t have a single result lower than ninth through two races. Their average finish is 5.75.

Both Chastain and Suarez, who also got his first win last year, signed multi-year contract extensions ahead of the 2023 season.

The 2023 season’s two race winners thus far are JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the Daytona 500, and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, who won the Pala Casino 400. They sit in seventh and eighth place in the standings, respectively.