When Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick retired at the end of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, longtime partner Busch Light needed a new driver and team pairing to link up with for 2024 and beyond.
Suffice it to say it didn't take long for them to come to terms with Trackhouse Racing and Ross Chastain, and one year into the partnership, it has truly been a perfect fit for the beer brand and the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet.
"It's been everything I dreamed of and more," Chastain told Beyond the Flag. "It's just such an iconic brand that stepping in was scary and daunting, and all the words of nervousness to live up to the brand, and to take what they've done over so many years and decades and continue it on."
Chastain has risen to the challenge and represented the brand well as he prepares to enter year number two as Busch Light's NASCAR driver.
"I think what's been so awesome and rewarding is that they've let us do it our way and let me be me," he continued. "From just dreaming about this sponsor in particular, for so many years, and then to talk to them, and from the first meeting, I realized that we aligned on so many things. We signed the deal and hit the ground running, and it's pretty rewarding to drive the iconic Busch Light colors."
The latest collaboration involving Busch Light and Chastain is set to take center stage this coming Sunday, February 9, when Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs battle it out with Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles for the right to be crowned Super Bowl LIX champions at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Busch Light is set to be featured in a Super Bowl ad this year during Fox's broadcast of the "Big Game", just one week prior to the start of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
The brand is bringing the revved-up energy of the racetrack to Super Bowl LIX through a new ad titled “Circles,” and Chastain is set to appear in that ad. The "beer brewed for the great outdoors" opens up the commercial with two bewildered backpackers making laps during a hike, a surefire way to get lost in the wilderness – hence the name "Circles".
That's where Chastain and the iconic "Busch Guy" come into play.
"There were a lot of people involved," Chastain said about making the ad. "And to be asked to be in on something like that was just like I talked about driving the car. It's like, 'holy cow', we're going to be in a Super Bowl spot in an ad! And that's just incredible, to do it with the Busch Guy, that iconic red shirt, out in the woods."
It also gave the 32-year-old Alva, Florida native more appreciation for what goes into making such a short ad.
"To fly up way far away from town, fly in and drive out, and experience that day of filming for 15 seconds, there's a lot more that goes into it," he said. "So that Busch Light would even ask me is incredible. And then to pull it off, and they say I did what they were looking for, and they were happy with what we did, and we had a lot of laughs, and a lot of outtakes, because I couldn't hold a straight face with Busch Guy and the group behind the cameras.
"The promotion that they put around this sport and me, you don't see that very often. It's just 'rising tide raises all ships', and they definitely raise us here on the No. 1 car."
Chastain says that he and Busch Light have more fun ideas in store throughout the rest of the 2025 season.
"We do have more in store," he said. "I can't tell you all that, but the classic blue and white colors will be a part of what we do, and there are so many other schemes that we do with the other brands or the other paint schemes that we rebrand.
"It looks like, maybe to the fan who walks up and first glances, they're going to say, well that's not the Busch Light car, and when they see it, they realize it's the farmer car or it's the fish car, and I love that. I love that we change it up and shine a light on different things. Just pumped for it to get here, and there's definitely more to come. Stay tuned."
Super Bowl LIX is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Caesars Superdome beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 9. The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, February 16 with the 67th annual Daytona 500. Fox is set to provide live coverage from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action, including the new Busch Light ad!