Ross Chastain - Ecosave 200 Race Preview
Event: Ecosave 200 (200 laps / 200 miles)
Round: 9 of 25 (Regular Season)
Track: Dover Motor Speedway
Location: Dover, Delaware
Date & Time: Friday, May 15 | 5:00 PM ET
Tune-In: FOX Sports 1 | NASCAR Racing Network (NRN) | SiriusXM Ch. 90
Team Stats & Notes
- Niece Motorsports Dover Stats:
NCTS Starts: 8; Top-10s: 1; Best Finish: 10th (Ross Chastain, 2019).
- Back to the Monster Mile: Friday’s Ecosave 200 will mark the first time that the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) has raced at Dover Motor Speedway since 2020.
No. 45 Drive Sober Arrive Alive DE Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Ross Chastain | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
- Chastain’s Dover Stats:
NCS Starts: 11; Top-Fives: 2; Top-10s: 2; Best Finish: 2nd (2023).
NOAPS Starts: 13; Top-Fives: 2; Top-10s: 2; Best Finish: 2nd (2020).
NCTS Starts: 4; Top-10s: 1; Best Finish: 10th (2019).
- Gould's Dover Stats:
NOAPS Starts: 12; Top-Fives: 1; Top-10s: 5; Best Finish: 5th (2017).
NCTS Starts: 2; Top-10s: 1; Best Finish: 10th (2019).
- On the Truck: Chastain’s No. 45 Chevrolet will race with support from the Delaware Office of Highway Safety. His truck promotes their ‘Drive Sober. Arrive Alive DE’ campaign, a program which encourages sober driving.
- Recapping Watkins Glen: Ross Chastain and the Protect Your Melon team fought for the race win in Watkins Glen, but were unable to see the end of the race. Chastain started from the rear of the field after discovering an electrical issue in qualifying, but it did not take his team long to strategize a way to the front of the field. After finishing sixth in stage one, the No. 45 team elected to flip the second stage to gain track position. Chastain took the lead for a total of 17 laps in the final stage and was controlling the race when he was dealt a costly restart violation penalty. While he was working his way through the field, contact from another competitor sent Chastain careening hard into the wall, resulting in a disappointing 28th-place finish.
- Owner Points Outlook: Following Chastain’s crash at Watkins Glen, the No. 45 team dropped three positions in the owner points standings to sixth-place. Ahead of the Dover race weekend, the team is eight points behind Front Row Motorsports’ No. 34 truck in fifth, and four points ahead of TRICON Garage’s No. 17 team in seventh. The No. 45 team currently has a 36-point gap over the Chase cutline.
- Quoting Chastain: What makes Dover such a challenging track?
“Since Dover is concrete, you have to be on your toes at all times and push your truck to get to the limit every lap. It’s part of what makes this track so much fun, because you have to hit your marks every corner to get the most out of it. It’s been a while since I got to race a truck around Dover, so I’m looking forward to returning this weekend with our Drive Sober Arrive Alive Delaware Silverado.”
About Niece Motorsports: Niece Motorsports is a professional auto racing team that has competed in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series since 2016. The team is owned by Josh Morris of DQS Solutions and Staffing and the Fowler Family of J.F. Electric and Utilitra, and was founded by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. At its 80,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Salisbury, NC, Niece Motorsports is a full-service race vehicle build shop as well as a customizable fabrication shop for any manufacturing needs.
Follow the Team: To keep up to date with the latest team news, visit niecemotorsports.com or connect on Facebook and Instagram (@NieceMotorsports) as well as X (@NieceMotorsport).
About The Delaware Office of Highway Safety: The Delaware Office of Highway Safety was established on July 19, 1968. We are a division of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security and funded by federal grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. By focusing our efforts on the state’s identified highway safety priority areas, developing statewide partnerships and increasing the public’s awareness of safe driving habits, the Office of Highway Safety is striving to make Delaware’s roadways the safest in the country.
