ELKHART LAKE – If NASCAR wasn’t going to bring Ross Chastain to Road America this year, he decided, he’d go on his own.
With NASCAR on break during the Olympics, the four-time Cup Series race winner took the opportunity to make his IMSA sports car debut, joining Ken Fukuda for the two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race Saturday.
Chastain finished seventh and fourth in the Cup Series’ brief run at Road America in 2021 and ’22, before NASCAR opted to race the downtown Chicago street course. He also made five starts in the Xfinity Series, which raced at the track from 2010-23.
“I love it,” Chastain said of the rolling, 4.048-mile road course. “I tell them that, they don’t listen. I think it’s a great facility.
“I know there are a lot of reasons why we aren’t here. But I still want to be up here. Flying into Milwaukee, driving up, it’s a beautiful country.”
Driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 fielded by Skip Barber Racing, Chastain and Fukuda finished 24th in a race won by the Porsche 718 GT4 RS of Steven McAleer and Trent Hindman.
Chastain, 31, discovered the Skip Barber school while doing some middle-of-the-night, online research to preparing for his first Cup race at the Circuit of the Americas in 2021. He went on to win that race and finish seventh or better in the three races there since.
That first school day was also the first step toward Saturday. One of his instructors has been Fukuda.
“Before I got into the Truck series, I knew everything about the drivers, the procedures,” Chastain said. “Here, Ken and the Skip Barber team are coaching me all the processes, the yellow flags, the long and short work, plus or minus minutes till end of race. It’s a really challenging experience for me. It’s not like I just show up and be fast. I have to study stuff to get better.
“Some of my competitors – guys who do multiple classes across the world – are different. You see Kyle Larson. He’s in an IndyCar and he’s immediately fast. He’s the best driver of my generation, my age group. That’s not me. I have to continue to try working at it, which I enjoy. But don’t think this is easy.”
The weekend also was a learning experience for Fukuda, 36, who was the first recipient of the IMSA diverse driver development scholarship. Racing and instructing his co-driver weren’t his only duties for this round; he also found himself working crowd control amid Chastain fans.
“I think it’s incredible, and we’re seeing a different type of fan,” Fukuda said. “So many kids, too. People making their diecast, and one side has a crushed side….
“I think it’s awesome. Also, I think it’s a brave thing. He’s an established figure in his series, his wheelhouse. To come to IMSA, Michelin Pilot Challenge is extremely competitive if not the most competitive series in the world. Completely different car. To say ‘I don’t care, I want to learn, I love driving, I want to figure this out.’ He’s interacting with every single fan. He spends minutes smiling, taking pictures, asking questions. It’s taught me a lot about what a true pro looks like.”
The 450-horsepower, production-based sports cars of the Michelin Pilot Challenge with traction control and antilock brakes are considerably different from the NASCAR Chevrolet Chastain typically drives for Trackhouse Racing. Sitting on the pit stand and then switching off with a another driver midrace was as well.
“I did do a street stock race when I was about 14 years old back home,” said Chastain, who grew up in Florida. “I was sitting on pillows because another driver was a little bigger and I was a little late hitting my growth spurt.
“This feels the most natural. Because Ken has instructed me before. … That’s what I tell other drivers that are going to Skip Barber now to learn road courses. Continue to refine their craft in NASCAR. It’s not something NASCAR drivers openly do, going to school to get schooling.
“I just get along with everyone in Skip Barber. They teach me how to go faster; what’s not to love about that? And Ken is doing that here, just like in class.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: NASCAR driver Ross Chastain races at Road America in IMSA sports car
