As Chastain and crew celebrated in the Kansas sunlight, the scope of winning in the NASCAR Cup Series was brought to light.
Winning in the Cup Series has never, ever been an easy task, but since NASCAR introduced the “win and you’re in” playoff system in 2014, the meaning of a race win has seemed to get lost in all the talk of the postseason.
Wins may carry more weight in defining a driver’s championship standing than they used to, as they can equal both a playoff berth and a ticket to the next round of the playoffs, but when drivers win races nowadays, all that seems to be talked about is the playoff implications.
That’s not to say the championship implications aren’t important, but oftentimes, the stories behind race wins are buried by the impact the victory has on the season as a whole.
When Harrison Burton shocked the world at Daytona on Aug. 24, the focus wasn’t on Burton’s first career win or the historic Wood Brothers team. It was on Burton — who had been last in points for much of the second half of the season — miraculously earning a NASCAR playoffs berth.
When Alex Bowman triumphed at Chicago on July 2, the main storyline wasn’t Bowman breaking an 80-race winless streak after overcoming multiple injuries, but rather, the No. 48 team making the playoffs after a one-season hiatus.
The championship is important, but race fans watch races in order to find out who wins. They watch for the stories that every driver in the field provides, whether they finish first or last.
Chastain may have upended the playoff field on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean his win should be any less talked about. Chastain broke a 30-race winless streak of his own on Sunday, as the win was his first since the 2023 championship race at Phoenix.
Interestingly enough, Chastain’s last victory was also overshadowed by the playoff conversion, though that instance was much more understandable, as Chastain won the season finale.
In this case, however, Chastain’s victory deserves to be water cooler fodder for every NASCAR fan. The championship conversation is very important, but if one of NASCAR’s most entertaining drivers finally breaking through after a frustrating season didn’t provide enough talking points for the week, nothing will.
Chastain’s win shows that he’s still one of the best in the business and that no matter the championship standing of the winning driver, winning a NASCAR Cup Series race is always something to celebrate.
