This year hasn’t quite gone as Ross Chastain had planned: He narrowly missed making the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs despite consistently good results. His first win of the season finally came in late September (outside of the regular season) at Kansas Speedway — and Chastain credits his fitness regimen for his consistency, despite being out of the running now for the championship.
“We just stay on the grind,” said Chastain in a recent interview. “I still show up Monday mornings at 7:00 AM and nothing changes. I can’t try any harder, and I can’t try any less.”
A still-working watermelon farmer turned NASCAR star, Chastain burst onto the professional racing scene in 2011, working his way up the ladder before eventually breaking out as the 2022 Cup Series championship runner-up. (And architect of the wall ride heard ’round the world.) His fitness routine has evolved as the years have rolled on, and it’s now become one of his main priorities.
“A decade ago, when I first got in, I didn’t do anything!” he laughed. “I just woke up when I wanted to, ate whatever I wanted to. I’d eat a salad randomly, grilled chicken randomly… but then I’d eat fried chicken tenders on my biscuits and gravy the next morning for breakfast. Nothing was intentional.”
The same went for the gym.
“I’d go two days in a row, then spend two weeks without going,” he said, chuckling.
That all changed in 2018 when he signed with Chip Ganassi Racing, which put him in touch with fitness coach Josh Wise—a former Cup Series driver, Ironman triathlete, and now a famed NASCAR workout guru. Six years later, Chastain is training for marathons himself (“I’ve had the Huntsville half marathon circled on my calendar for 13 months!”) and has embraced the grind.
“When I was a kid, if I had to run for soccer practice, I didn’t like it,” he said. “Now, if I drive home and my legs hurt, I think… ‘Heck yeah, that was a good day!’”
We caught up with the watermelon evangelist-turned-Cup driver to talk meditation, avoiding surgery with training, and stealing lunch inspiration from Daniel Suarez.
What’s a typical workout like for Ross Chastain?
Gosh… it’s a bit of everything! I start my days at GM’s tech center, where the Wise program has Dan Jansen as our strength coach. So 7:00 AM on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I’m there. Monday is an arm and upper day, Wednesday is a lower leg strength day, and Thursday is high-speed running or biking for speed and power at threshold. Tuesday is an easier day—I’ll either do a session with Scott Speed at Trackhouse Motorplex, where we kart, run, or bike out back, or I alternate weeks with our mindfulness coach.
What benefits does the mindfulness coach give you?
We’ll go for a jog. He talks, we’re thinking mindfulness, meditation-style. A lot of good conversation and positive energy. That one-hour time slot a week is super important now to me to truly disconnect from everything. And when we get done, the sky is bluer, the birds chirp louder. We joke about it, but it’s real.
Ross Chastain
Photo by: Netflix
A lot of people look at racecar drivers and think: You just need to push your foot down on the pedal. They don’t quite see what fitness brings to the table. How has working out been such a game changer for you?
It’s about endurance in my mind. I used to run triple headers, and I realized back in 2013-14 that I was not holding up in the seat very well. Stuff just hurt. My shoulders, arm—I actually thought I had problems with my elbow and needed surgery, but once I met Josh, he said, “I think your muscles are just weak! You look fit, but you’re just not strong.”
So that’s where it changed in my mind. I didn’t need surgery for my elbow that always hurt—I could barely lift my right arm above my head! I attributed it to shifting at road courses, but I was actually just weak. So he set me on a plan to do that, and I had relief from that day-to-day pain, and I felt better in the cars and trucks.
It’s all about being as good at the end of the race as I am at the beginning.
You mentioned that your diet has also evolved, from no structure whatsoever to making conscious decisions. What do you focus on when it comes to what you eat?
On Sunday, before the race I’ll have plain chicken and rice. It’s something that [Daniel] Suarez turned me onto. I was doing big salads before that—like big, beautiful salads with fruits and nuts. Really good, and kept me feeling light. But in the Cup car, with fixed belts now, if I eat too much, that fixed belt would be really tight! So he turned me onto the chicken and rice. Before that, if I have time for breakfast, it’s oatmeal and a banana.
I really do love breakfast, but I intermittent fast from Monday to Friday, and my first meal isn’t until after my workout, which could be noon.
Does watermelon fit into your diet still?
Heck yeah, man. I buy them at the grocery store on my way home and as I slice it up, I’ll eat it right then. Other times, I blend it up and have that big pitcher thing—I just stick that into the fridge and pour it out. I also keep a lot of avocados, fresh fruit, blueberries, blackberries… it’s a constant rotation. I keep all that stuff because, well, I just love food!
How do you decompress after a race or a long day of training?
When I’m done with all this stuff—all the cycling, running, my routine—it sounds so silly to say out loud, but I just want to have a beer! I’m done, I want to reward myself. I told Busch [Ed note: one of Chastain’s sponsors] that I already drink your product and will keep doing so if you sponsor me or not.
I haven’t upped my consumption by any means [since the sponsorship], but now they send the beer to me, so I don’t have to go buy it!