Local NASCAR star talks 2015 season goals

FORT MYERS, Fla.- WINK sports first featured 22-year-old Ross Chastain in November.

He is a NASCAR driver from Alva, and competed in a number of Nationwide races last season, including the season finale at Homestead in Miami.

Chastain, who started racing professionally in the truck series in 2011, made his Nationwide debut just this past season.

He was at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott this weekend for the Florida Watermelon Convention– the National Watermelon Association is one of his sponsors.

In 2014, he raced in a handful of Nationwide races. Chastain says this season, it’s his goal to increase that number. He plans to race in the Nationwide series about half of his season.

“There’s no right or wrong way to win a race,” Chastain told WINK Sports. “There’s no right or wrong way to make it to Sunday, to race in the Sprint cup series, but I feel like if I keep putting myself in position and working with my partners to stay on the race track,” he continued, “Yes, we will get there where we can win races.”

He said he plans to officially announce his 2015 schedule soon. He also confirmed he will be racing at Daytona in February, and hopes he will be able to race in the Nationwide series there.

“I’ve got to put myself in a situation where I can get laps, where I can go learn,” Chastain said. “No race car is the same. From fast trucks to late models, there’s a learning curve. From late models to trucks, there’s a learning curve. And now trucks to Nationwide cars, there’s a steep learning curve, and I’ve got to learn that so I can put myself in the best situation to win going forward.”