Ross Chastain drove through a patch of oil, brushed the outside wall, and won Saturday night's rain-shortened Charbroil 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway — his first NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory since 2019, his first at Charlotte, and the third of his career.
Then he took a bow. Kyle Busch's bow.
Then he smashed a watermelon from the roof of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. His own signature. Both tributes earned, both landing in a weekend that needed them.
Busch died Thursday at age 41. Severe pneumonia had progressed into sepsis with rapid and overwhelming complications. Busch won the Truck Series race at Dover on May 15 — his series-record 69th victory. Nine days later, the O'Reilly Series ran at Charlotte in persistent Carolina rain, and Chastain stood on the roof doing what the field wishes Busch could still do himself.
"This weekend, it's just incredible trying to grasp losing Kyle," Chastain said. "I don't understand how he's not here racing. I don't grasp it mentally or spiritually. Obviously, racing is the best thing we can do to celebrate what he did in the sport and in his life."
The race itself was an endurance test. Rain slowed the field twice in the first 33 laps — first a drizzle under caution for Harrison Burton's spin in Turn 4, then a harder rain after NASCAR called a competition caution on Lap 26. NASCAR red-flagged after Lap 33, and the cars sat covered on pit road for 4 hours, 21 minutes, 58 seconds before NASCAR called drivers back at 9:45 p.m.
Justin Allgaier started from pole and led the most laps — five times for 36 — but lost the lead on Lap 42 when he got loose over the bumps in Turn 3. Connor Zilisch took the green-checkered flag as Stage 1 winner three laps later.
Then came the oil. On Lap 73, the No. 35 Chevrolet of Dawson Cram deposited fluid on the track and eight cars slid through it — including Chastain, who kept his car on the track with seemingly minimal damage. Series leader Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray, and Jeremy Clements were not as fortunate. Allgaier stayed on the lead lap after repeated trips to pit road but finished 29th.
"I did not think we would win one like this, driving into the fence in liquid," Chastain said. "I have no idea what it was. I went into Turn 1 like normal, and there was something on the track. No matter how we win, I feel like we could have raced with them again at the end."
Chastain crossed the finish line to win Stage 2 on Lap 90. The race was stopped for rain for the second time. With no hope of continuing, NASCAR called the race after Lap 91 and declared Chastain the winner. The final 18 laps had run under caution as drizzling rain and mist wet the track and obscured spotters' views from the top of the grandstand.
Defending O'Reilly Series champion Jesse Love — who drove for Richard Childress Racing, as did Busch in the Cup Series — finished second.
"If this week taught us anything, it's that all this doesn't matter as much as we think it does," Love said. "As much as I'm angry and confused and upset about the way the race finished, I also realized there's a lot of hurt people right now."
Austin Hill, Love's RCR teammate, ran third. William Sawalich finished fourth, Corey Day fifth, Zilisch sixth. Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, Carson Kvapil, and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10. JR Motorsports placed three drivers in the top 10.
The rain that ended the Charbroil 300 also killed the Truck Series race — already rescheduled twice and set for 9 p.m. Saturday — forcing a third postponement to 10 a.m. Sunday.
Race time: 1 hour, 52 minutes, 52 seconds. Average speed: 159.48 mph. Fourteen lead changes among seven drivers. Six cautions for 54 laps.
Chastain led three times for 28 laps. He started 14th.