Ross Chastain snatches his first victory in Austin!

The Next Gen kept all their promises for the first road race of this 7th generation of cars NASCAR in Austin on the Circuit of the Americas. 

Circuit of the Americas – Austin © Dylan Buell/Getty Images

During the final restart under overtime, Ross Chastain was able to resist the insane pressure from luxury freelancer AJ Allmendiger and Alex Bowman to secure his victory in the last corner and finally celebrate his first Cup victory with a furious throw of … watermelon !

Iconic 🍉 @RossChastain | @TeamTrackhouse pic.twitter.com/S9LfZngYGJ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 27, 2022

The relevance of the segment format on road circuits has been a question for a long time, and this 6th round of the season can only provide food for thought as the first two segments were so lacking in lessons. Let's remember from the first section only the victory of Daniel Suarez after a solo rider of 15 laps. The second segment was a little more lively and was won by Denny Hamlin thanks to the opportune choice to skip a refueling 2 laps from the end of the segment. 

9 restarts for as many wild struggles at the first corner © Logan Riely/Getty Images

The last 38 laps became 40 when Corey Lajoie stopped his car three laps from the end. Chastain and Allmendinger had already been having a fun fight for a few laps to which Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman came to join.

Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger were the big entertainers of this Texas round © Logan Riely/Getty Images

If Reddick quickly sank, Bowman seemed to hold the victory when Chastain came to lean on Allmendinger's bumper propelling him onto the Chevrolet 48. “Watermelon Man” Chastain only had to ensure his trajectory to come pick up this much-deserved first victory, he who had just had 3 podiums in a row.

UNBELIEVABLE pic.twitter.com/E8pdMIOSSC

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 27, 2022

This victory rewards the fantastic start to the season in Austin for Trackhouse Racing, owned by Justin Marks and rapper Pitbull, born from the purchase of the NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing.

And 1 for Ross Chastain © Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Ranking of the Echopark Automotive Grand Prix in Austin:

ALSO READ > Ross Chastain confirmed at Trackhouse