RACINBOYS EXCLUSIVE By Lee Spencer (Dover, DE) -- Ross Chastain has a handshake deal with Jay Robinson to drive full-time in the Monster Energy Cup Series for Premium Motorsports in 2019.

The 25-year-old racer from Alva, Fla., is in his first season in the No. 15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet. He finished a career-high 18th at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year but is running for points in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

While Chastain’s visibility has risen exponentially this year with his success under the Chip Ganassi Racing banner, Robinson has never doubted his driver’s talent.

“Ross was plenty good when he got here,” Robinson said. “He drove for us here, at this track, a year ago and did well. Certainly, a Cup car is different than an Xfinity car, and I think he’s benefiting from us going to tracks for a second time. In the case of Dover, that’s more than that for him because of last year’s races.

“But after going through the schedule and going to these tracks a second time around, experience helps. Communication with the team has evolved and gotten better. We know more of what he’s looking for as for as the feel of the car. We’ve just learned each other basically as time has gone on. It’s a good relationship.”

Although Chastain has been on the scene since he was 18, he did not score his first win on one of NASCAR’s top tours until this year with Ganassi Racing. In his three starts in the No. 42 DC Solar Chevy, he won his first race, won his first pole and led 270 laps—254 more than the entire four years on the tour.

Has Robinson noticed an uptick in Chastain’s confidence?

“I don’t think Ross has ever lacked confidence,” Robinson said. “He was pretty good the day he walked in the door. He had confidence, and he continues to grow with all that. Ross is so quiet that I think sometimes people mistake that for somebody who doesn’t have confidence. But I assure you, he has plenty of confidence.”

Chastain, an eight-generation watermelon farmer, ties the family business into this weekend’s sponsorship. All week, as part of the “Use Your Melon, Drive Sober Arrive Alive DE” campaign, Chastain visited children’s hospitals and schools prior to the activities at Dover International Speedway. His bi-annual trip to the Nemours/Alfred .I. duPont Hospital for the Children is one of the more emotional stops.

And unlike the last time Chastain visited the children, when questions arose as to how many times the driver has won, he didn’t have to answer “never."

“It puts it all into perspective,” Chastain said. “Seeing all the kids, I really enjoy that, but the hardest thing I do all year is go to the Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital in Wilmington. I can’t even put into words what it’s like to walk in there and see a girl that was waiting on me. She was there in the spring and hasn’t gone home yet. Luckily, she’s still with us. She was excited and she was waiting. We hung out for two hours while I was there.

“It’s a lot bigger world out there than the NASCAR bubble we live in—which we’re all very fortunate and blessed to be in. But it’s cool to see their faces light up when we talk to them.”

Not surprisingly, Chastain is grateful for the opportunity just to race on NASCAR’s top tours. His approach is measured, whether he’s running with his current Xfinity Series team at JD Motorsports or with Premium Motorsports in the Cup seires. Robinson sees a lot of similarities between his organization and Johnny Davis'.

“Ross and I work together during the races to try and be in a position that will work out for a benefit,” Robinson said. “We’ve got nothing to gain. We don’t put ourselves in positions to have a problem. If we got something to gain, then it’s risk versus reward if we’re trying to move forward or move through a pack. He’s very good about that.

“Honestly, there’s time when you’re trying to get to the end of a stage or you’re trying to get to the end of a tire run and sometimes you can’t be aggressive. You’re a little more conservative. Then there are other times it’s just the opposite. Ross adapts very well to all of that. He understands the idea of the 500-mile race. Coming from Xfinity, of course, they didn’t have that. That’s what’s a big difference is between Cup and the way you approach a race.

“These Xfinity races are basically sprint races. It’s go as hard as you can go for the 250 or 300 miles, but in Cup, as a team, we’re managing our tire sets because many, many times this year, we had no sponsors. It was all we could do to just have tires and save our best sets for the end. Ross understands that. We go over that prior to each race. He knows what we have to work with, and if it’s not our very best tires early on, he knows not to overdrive or push too hard, because we’re going to get better as the race goes on with the tire sets we have to work with.”

Running with underfunded teams is nothing new for Chastain. Since his Camping World Truck Series debut in 2011, many of his opportunities were with organizations operating on a limited budget. But when given the chance to race with top programs such as Brad Keselowski Racing in trucks or Ganassi Racing in the Xfinity Series this season, Chastain has been competitive. When he raced for Keselowski, Chastain’s average finish was 10th, and he posted two poles.

Chastain is likely to continue his path with Ganassi Racing in Xfinity next year. On the Cup side, Robinson says he won’t hold Chastain back, should a better opportunity come along. But for now, there’s no one else Robinson would rather have driving his car.

“We try to get the most production out of our teams that we can and having a driver that’s willing to buy into that and go with it, that’s the biggest part of it,” Robinson said. “Ross and our team—we really and truly are a team. We go into the race weekend with a plan, with goals we’re trying to hit. Even though it may not look like much on the outside, those are little wins for us when we accomplish what we want to accomplish.

“We leave a lot of weekends where maybe we finished 25th or 26th, that’s a good day for us. On those days when we do better than that, it’s similar to us winning a race if we get up in the top 20. And I think we have the potential to do much better than that at times, but it all comes down to budget and the team growing. We hope that improves as we go.”