When it comes to NASCAR Cup Series silly season, a lot of the focus tends to be placed on the drivers and teams, and justifiably so.
But when Kevin Harvick announced in early 2023 that he would be retiring from Cup Series competition and moving to the Fox Sports broadcast booth beginning in 2024, another major element of free agency came into the mix: sponsorship.
Who would land the iconic partnership with Busch Light, the Official Beer of NASCAR and one of the sport's four Premier Partners?
In due time, it was revealed that Busch Light would be teaming up with Trackhouse Racing and Ross Chastain on the No. 1 Chevrolet, after their surprise breakout season in 2022 sent them to the Championship 4 with two victories and resulted in a runner-up championship finish.
"It’s been a match made in heaven that I just never could have even seen coming," Chastain told Beyond the Flag in a recent interview made possible by Busch Light.
"I used to have conversations and times with my buddies drinking Busch Light before I ever knew anybody at the brand. And we would laugh at like, what if we ever got Busch Light, what if we ever got a beer sponsor? What would that be like? And now we’ve had it and got it, and I think that the farming side together with the on-track winning side is why they chose me."
As far as free agency goes, Busch Light is about as big as it gets when it comes to sponsors that have been looking for new homes in recent years. Yet even before it was announced, it felt like Chastain was the ideal new driver with whom to partner.
"I find I'm asking myself that often!" he admitted when asked about how it all came together. "I think it ties into, first off, on track, you have to be competing. They want a successful driver and team.
"When Kevin was stepping out of his career and retiring, we were at the top of the sport. We were winning races and competing for championships, and I think that was the first box that had to be checked. You have to be there in the show on the big stage."
But it's not all about what happens on the race track, and that's what made the perfect pairing even stronger.
"From there, from what they’ve told me, is they looked at my body of work and who I am, where I came from," Chastain, an eighth-generation watermelon farmer who hails from Alva, Florida, continued. "The farming aspect of it really fit their brand for Busch Light."
Busch Light: 'For the Farmers'
The whole "For the Farmers" theme has been huge for Busch Light over the years, even dating back to Harvick's career. This summer, to build on their seven-year partnership with Farm Rescue, they have reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to farming and ranching communities nationwide with the return of the Farming Cans.
Proceeds of up to $200,000 ($0.10 per case) are to be donated to Farm Rescue, supporting farm and ranch families, from now through September 1. All cans come with a U.S. Farmed seal to indicate that at least 95% of the brands ingredients are grown in the United States.
The return of the Farming Cans closely followed Anheuser-Buesch's launch of the ComBar, a first-of-its-kind mobile bar built from a real combine harvester to honor American farmers.
The farming commitment element of the Busch Light partnership is one that Chastain has seamlessly embraced, given his background.
"I remember the first time we were in a meeting in St. Louis and I started asking about the other products for Anheuser-Busch and other beer brands and they stopped me and said, ‘Ross, you’re Busch Light. This conversation is around Busch Light. You’re the farmer. This is for the farmers.’
"As they got me up to speed on it, I’m like, ‘You’re right. I am.’ I didn’t even realize it. I drink Busch Light already. And I told them, I already drink it, I’m going to continue to drink it whether you sponsor me or not, and I’m going to drink it long after I’m done racing. So, if you want to be a part of that, I want you to."
Busch Light Flavor Shadown takes center stage, Ross Chastain casts his vote
Chastain has also helped to promote the recently launched Busch Light Flavor Showdown, which fans have gotten to be a part of.
"I’m a lemon guy," he said. "I never would have thought that. I did not go into it thinking I would be a lemon guy. I’d already had peach in the past, so I knew what to expect. I had it, then went orange, and I liked it. Then lemon, I don’t know if it’s because it was the third sample I had. I even went back and tried them all again.
"I did it at CMA Fest, so I don’t know why, but lemon was my vote. I threw a lemon in the bucket and cast my vote just like everybody else. I don’t have any more voting power than anybody else! It was cool to see people trying it there."
The recent initiatives have built upon a strong foundation that Chastain and Busch Light have already built together over the past two-plus seasons, and perhaps the highlight of it thus far came in early 2025, when they worked together to launch the fan-favorite "Circles" commercial, which still runs regularly to this day.
'What's wrong with going in circles?'
"I do get feedback sometimes from people close to me when they think I could have done something better or they think that I missed the mark on something. And I haven’t had one complaint on that commercial," he said.
"That was an experience unlike anything I had ever done. We flew in the afternoon one day up into Seattle. Then we drove up, got a room, drove up early the next morning up to the site of the shoot, and we were there all day."
For as short as the commercial was, it gave Chastain a new appreciation for what all goes into the filming and production process of any advertisement.
"I remember they had told me to let my beard grow out, which you really got to twist my arm to tell me not to stay trimmed up!" he admitted. "Believe it or not, I feel like I try to stay trimmed up and it doesn’t always exactly look as clean-cut as it probably should be, but I had to go for over a month of no trim.
"I remember there was a lady there, and she was there to make me look like I had been in the woods for a week. That was the goal. So, brand new firesuit, clean shower that morning, I get there, and she starts rubbing dirt all over me, on my face, on the suit. It was a very unique experience and ruffled my hair all up."
And that was just before they even started shooting.
"Then we started filming and they had me go through different octaves of my voice, normal, and then they had me go lower, and then higher," he explained. "They ended up using a higher pitch. I remember exactly when that section of the day was on the one they picked.
"Glad that it came out the way it was. I had my shoes off in that tent though. I was in that tent so long, I took the racing shoes off and was just chilling between takes as they were deciding what they wanted.
"It was a lot of fun with the Busch guys. We did get to drink beer at the end of the day. It was good. It was an experience that I’ll never forget. And then you tie it in with [the fact] they’ve continued to run it into the second year, so I’m super thankful for that."
Chastain optimistic after rough start to 2026
Chastain is hoping the abundant off-track success with Busch Light will translate to the race track amid what has been a challenging year for himself and Trackhouse as a whole.
He is 20th in the point standings and sits 45 points below the cut line, but it's a gap that has shrunk significantly in recent weeks as he aims to punch his fourth playoff ticket since 2022.
"Win," he stated bluntly when asked about his goals for the remainder of 2026. "We have not been leading as many laps as we want. We’ve not won in the Busch Light car yet. That’s well-known. I’m not telling anybody anything that’s not known. And we want to drink beer in Victory Lane after we win in the Busch Light car."
Chastain's sixth and most recent victory was a last-to-first effort in the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was now 43 races ago.
"It is number one on the priority list for Trackhouse, Justin Marks, and me," he continued. "It’s what we wake up every day to try to do. That’s the goal."
While it's been a trying year on the Cup side, Chastain has been appreciative of the extra seat time he's gotten in the lower series, after NASCAR made the decision over the offseason to loosen their annual restrictions on full-time Cup drivers with at least three years of experience.
He's the only full-time Cup driver who scheduled the maximum 10 starts in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and eight in the Craftsman Truck Series.
"So close to winning with Niece Motorsports on the Truck side," he recalled. "Just a quarter mile away from it at Darlington and made a bad decision on the final corner to go high and let [Corey] Heim go by on the bottom.
"Then getting that win at Charlotte with JRM, that O’Reilly Series car. That’s a big deal for me to win with that team. That’s my third win in the O’Reilly Series and I’ve run a lot of races, so a lot of losing. That was important."
It was Chastain's first O'Reilly Series victory since 2019, when he won at Daytona International Speedway with Kaulig Racing. And aside from the fact that it came at the site of his Coke 600 victory one year prior, it was extra special for another reason.
"It actually completed the triple for me, winning in all three series at Charlotte, which is an incredible thing to say," he noted. "It’s right here in our backyard where I live in North Carolina now. The race shop is right down the road."
His Truck Series victory at Charlotte came in 2022 with Niece Motorsports.
"Winning in Truck, O’Reilly and Cup all at the same race track is really special. It’s the only place I have that. Next on the list is, closest I guess I would say, is a Kansas O’Reilly win, to check that box as well. A lot of the other tracks I’ve gotten to win twice in different things. We’ll do that down the road. But it’s special to win."
Chastain also ran select races for JR Motorsports in the then-Xfinity Series a year ago, but he wasn't able to finish higher than third before capturing that elusive win back in May.
"Getting to JRM was very important for me," he explained. "I’ve seen drivers go and learn there and succeed, and I went there and had to learn. I did not just step into the race car. I ran five races last year and I did not win. It's tough to go 0-for-5 at JRM when they win so many races. So, very, very happy, very proud to do that."
Chastain is set to get two more chances to add to his O'Reilly Series win total this year, in the series' next two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway.
"We’ve got two more shots at Indy and Iowa. Two big events that would be really special to win at from the farming side. Indy is actually closer to some of our farms down in southwest Indiana, Oaktown, and then down into Owensboro, Kentucky, right across the river.
"And then Iowa, I mean, come on; that is farm country. You pull in and it’s nothing but green fields everywhere you can see. Both would be very special. Had a shot to win Iowa last year in the O’Reilly car and just didn’t quite get it done at the end."
He's hopeful that more success in the O'Reilly Series will precede long-awaited success on the Cup side, perhaps enough to get him back to the 16-driver postseason.
"In the middle of summer here, right in the heart of our season, we are seeing some light in the tunnel ahead of us and trying to get there for speed, starting the races faster, and getting the balance closer in the car.
"My mentality is everything in life for me and my current role gets better when we go fast on Sundays. And we’re gaining on it. We just need to start a little closer each week."
