March 27, 2025 • 9 mins
In this episode, Founder Ben Keiser speaks with NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain to discuss racing, farming, and family legacy. Chastain shares insights on the competitive NASCAR points system, reflects on growing up as a watermelon farmer in Florida, and explains how smashing a watermelon after a win became his signature celebration.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
Welcome to Vetted Conversations, where we delve
into the foundations, workings,and current challenges to the
American way of self-governance.
SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Today I'm interviewing the Melon Man, Ross
Chastain, NASCAR Cup Seriesdriver of the number one Chevy
for track house racing.
SPEAKER_03 (00:23):
Ross, welcome.
Thanks for coming by andspending a little time with us,
man.
Glad to be here.
So we're with Ross Chastain,NASCAR Cup Series driver, the
Melon Man, driver of the numberone car, Chevrolet with track
house racing.
How's the season going so far?
We've ran the Clash.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
So we do an exhibition race at the beginning
of the year to kind of kick offno points involved.
It used to be at Daytona for along time, then it went to Los
Angeles.
And now we did it for the firsttime in the Bowman Gray Stadium.
So Winston-Salem, NorthCarolina, actually the site of
the very first officialNASCAR-sanctioned race.
Oh, yeah.
Way, way back in the day.
The very first one called NASCARwas here.
(01:04):
And so it's something that kindof we went back to our roots.
Quarter mile track aroundbasically the running track
around a football field.
And when you got too low on thetrack, you got into the grass of
the football field.
So uh yeah, we end up sixth.
Um got our car better throughoutthe night and drove forward, but
uh didn't have quite what weneeded throughout the weekend to
go win it.
SPEAKER_03 (01:24):
For those folks out there who aren't uh diehard
NASCAR fans, how's the roughstructure of the point system?
SPEAKER_01 (01:31):
Yeah, so we have 26 races, uh the first 26th of our
regular season, and then we havea 10-race playoff.
They take 16 drivers.
So that sounds like a lot, butwe're a pretty competitive team
and we didn't make it last year.
I didn't I wasn't able to win arace, and then I missed on
points by about 30 points at theend.
Uh that's saying we had like, Idon't know, 1,500, you know, or
(01:52):
a thousand points, and then wemissed by 30.
So very small, every position isa is a point, and then they give
out points throughout the races.
So it's a very uh you know well,very fluid system of points are
always um you can you're pouringin as many points as you can
throughout the year, but all ofa sudden someone goes and leads
a bunch of laps, wins somestages, and wins a race, they
(02:12):
can get up to 60 points in onerace.
SPEAKER_03 (02:14):
In one race.
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
Or you can get as few as one.
So you can have big swings withgood finishes of wins or
crashing out early.
And then after the 26th race, 16drivers get reset and they race
in three race rounds.
And every third race, you takeout the bottom four drivers.
Uh win and you're in, if you wina race in that round, you move
on automatically.
And if you win a race in thefirst 26 races, you're
(02:37):
automatically in the playoffs.
Into the playoffs.
So it's a it's a veryresults-driven sport where
winning is rewarded, even thoughwe lose way more races or we
win, we lose way more eventsthan any other professional
athlete.
So think about if an NFL playerlost every game he entered for
(02:58):
years.
Well, that can happen in NASCAR.
Sure.
Um if a team went and didn't winfor 25 weeks.
Well, that's longer than the NFLseason.
SPEAKER_03 (03:06):
So But you got some wins under your belt.
I know that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
About five five wins.
The most recent one, uh, Kansaslast fall.
Too late to make the playoffs,but still to win in NASCAR,
especially when 16 drivers arevying for the championship,
they're bringing their best,their A game.
And we continued to do that aswell at Track House, and we were
able to win.
Um, so yeah, it's um it's veryuh important to keep winning.
(03:30):
Uh it's how we keep our jobs,it's how we stay in the sport.
SPEAKER_03 (03:33):
So you grew up on a farm in Florida, and uh how did
that factor into you gettinginto racing, or how'd you get
into racing?
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
I got into racing through a hobby and then a
desire to do something otherthan the farm.
I at 18 years old, I wanted tochase the racing.
It was what woke me up when Iwoke up every day.
I was thinking about race cars,not watermelons.
So I knew okay, I shouldprobably chase what just
naturally excites me.
Um because at the time,watermelons they're they're
work.
It's a it's a full-time job.
(04:04):
You need to be invested in it,you need to be there every day
from a farming perspective.
Yeah, and uh my dad and brotherand family they're they got that
covered, so I chased the racecars.
And uh it taught me that a raindelay at the racetrack is a lot
better than a heavy storm at thefarm that might flood our our
field and drown the watermelons.
Yeah, uh a hot race is muchbetter than a drought at the
(04:25):
farm that could burn thewatermelon plants and cost us
our livelihood.
So um, yeah, it's uh it taughtme everything I know, but it set
me up to go chase race cars.
SPEAKER_03 (04:35):
And this is a long uh generational thing for your
family.
You you are the eighthgeneration?
SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
Yeah, my brother and I are eighth consecutive
generations of watermelons.
And that goes back to when wellthey we know that the first
Chastain came over from Francein 1700, brought a group over on
there was a ship that came overand there was a lot of Chastains
on it.
Uh, and they started, theylanded in Richmond, Virginia.
Yeah and uh and have then wentto South Carolina, then Georgia,
(05:02):
and then my grandfather um andmy great-grandfather moved the
family south to South Florida uhin the 50s.
And so um looking for a betterlife, an earlier crop of
watermelons.
It wasn't the good old days backthen, it was hard-living and not
a lot of money.
So they went to South Florida,and that's where our family
story really changed and set ourgenerations up with my dad and
(05:25):
my dad's generation and hissiblings, and then my brother
and I, and our generation ofcousins were really close with a
lot of them, worked togetherwith work with a lot of them at
the farm.
Yeah, and uh yeah, it's um it Ifeel like today is the good old
days, and we're trying to makesure we put the farm in a spot
where it's gonna be that way fora long time now.
SPEAKER_03 (05:43):
That's great.
So, with roots that deep inAmerica, you must have when we
talked about, I know yourgrandfather at least served in
the military.
But do you know if you have anyancestors going back Civil War
era or even further?
SPEAKER_01 (05:57):
Beyond that, um, I'm not the history buff in the
family.
My dad is, uh, but not that Iknow off the top of my head, but
yeah, I do know that my granddadCarly served uh in the army.
Um after they moved to SouthFlorida, they were there a year
and it was not a good lifestarting out.
And so his brother was a littlebit older.
Uh so my great uncle TJ wentinto the Navy, my grandfather
(06:19):
went in the army, and um yeah,they um did they don't talk
about it a lot, but um proud ofwhat they did, and they're
they're proud that they servedtheir country and came back and
then they realized they werethey then they were ready to
grow the farm and to to put acrop in the ground and nurture
it and and grow it, and uhwatermelons have been a part of
that story all along.
SPEAKER_03 (06:39):
Yeah.
And we know that you know ourour partners at NASCAR and all
you drivers do tons for theveteran and military family
community, and you know, wethank you all so much for that.
You gotta tell everyone how yougot the nickname the Melon Man.
SPEAKER_01 (06:52):
Eighth generation watermelon farmer, man.
But there's more though.
SPEAKER_03 (06:56):
Yeah, so so you have a there's something you do.
SPEAKER_01 (07:00):
Yeah, so when I got into the sport, the agriculture
community is who sponsored meand who funded my career.
Uh nobody in NASCAR or or reallythe general world knew who Ross
Chastain was, but people in AGdid.
They knew my family, my dad, mygrandparents, and beyond, my
uncle.
So they we we leveraged the farmand business to to fund the
(07:21):
racing.
Um, and so I would havewatermelons at the track, I
would be cutting them up.
We had watermelon queens there.
So people early on didn't reallyknow who the kid driving the
truck was, but they rememberedthe watermelon.
It's a smile fruit, man.
It's it's hard to forgetsuddenly watermelons at a
racetrack.
So uh when we won our firstrace, go through victory lane.
I held up a watermelon, it wasthis great moment, and then I
(07:45):
sat it down, I didn't reallyknow what to do.
And uh we about an hour later werealized, oh, let's bust it open
and eat it.
So we did that, and thetradition was born.
So now the first thing I dobefore I talk to anybody, I
don't talk to TV, radio,nothing.
I get out, my crew runs me awatermelon out, I smash it right
there on the racetrack, reallyclose out on the track so the
fans can see it.
I usually give some to a fan uhthrough the fence, and uh with a
(08:08):
five-second rule, we pick itright up right up off the
ground.
There you go.
We we go for uh 36 pointsevents.
We'll take Easter off for cup,and then we'll have the all-star
race in there as well.
So we we go every week and we'llbe coming somewhere close to
where everybody's listening fromand hopefully come out to a
race.
SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
Uh and besides going to NASCAR, where can folks go to
learn more about you and TrackHouse and the number one Chevy
team?
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah, all the social channels, man.
Ross Chastain has uh we've goteverything covered on all the
channels, Track House does aswell.
And uh the Mellon Man brand.
So, I mean, if you're lookingfor truly not NASCAR specific,
not Ross specific, but just wehave a lifestyle brand, I guess
we'll call it.
But uh Mellon Man brand, justwatermelon themed stuff, um
(08:52):
lighthearted, just have some funwith it.
And um, yeah, it ties in theracing, it ties in the
agriculture, it's kind of amelting pot of everything in my
life.
And um I just they don't have toremember my name, but they can
remember watermelons, and it'swhat puts food on our table, so
selfishly.
If I can talk about it, I'mgoing to.
SPEAKER_03 (09:11):
Very cool.
Well, thanks for coming by,spending a few minutes with us,
Ross.
Good luck this season atDaytona, and we'll be watching
hope to see some watermelons.
All right.
Welcome to Vetted Conversations, where we delve
into the foundations, workings,and current challenges to the
American way of self-governance.
SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Today I'm interviewing the Melon Man, Ross
Chastain, NASCAR Cup Seriesdriver of the number one Chevy
for track house racing.
SPEAKER_03 (00:23):
Ross, welcome.
Thanks for coming by andspending a little time with us,
man.
Glad to be here.
So we're with Ross Chastain,NASCAR Cup Series driver, the
Melon Man, driver of the numberone car, Chevrolet with track
house racing.
How's the season going so far?
We've ran the Clash.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
So we do an exhibition race at the beginning
of the year to kind of kick offno points involved.
It used to be at Daytona for along time, then it went to Los
Angeles.
And now we did it for the firsttime in the Bowman Gray Stadium.
So Winston-Salem, NorthCarolina, actually the site of
the very first officialNASCAR-sanctioned race.
Oh, yeah.
Way, way back in the day.
The very first one called NASCARwas here.
(01:04):
And so it's something that kindof we went back to our roots.
Quarter mile track aroundbasically the running track
around a football field.
And when you got too low on thetrack, you got into the grass of
the football field.
So uh yeah, we end up sixth.
Um got our car better throughoutthe night and drove forward, but
uh didn't have quite what weneeded throughout the weekend to
go win it.
SPEAKER_03 (01:24):
For those folks out there who aren't uh diehard
NASCAR fans, how's the roughstructure of the point system?
SPEAKER_01 (01:31):
Yeah, so we have 26 races, uh the first 26th of our
regular season, and then we havea 10-race playoff.
They take 16 drivers.
So that sounds like a lot, butwe're a pretty competitive team
and we didn't make it last year.
I didn't I wasn't able to win arace, and then I missed on
points by about 30 points at theend.
Uh that's saying we had like, Idon't know, 1,500, you know, or
(01:52):
a thousand points, and then wemissed by 30.
So very small, every position isa is a point, and then they give
out points throughout the races.
So it's a very uh you know well,very fluid system of points are
always um you can you're pouringin as many points as you can
throughout the year, but all ofa sudden someone goes and leads
a bunch of laps, wins somestages, and wins a race, they
(02:12):
can get up to 60 points in onerace.
SPEAKER_03 (02:14):
In one race.
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
Or you can get as few as one.
So you can have big swings withgood finishes of wins or
crashing out early.
And then after the 26th race, 16drivers get reset and they race
in three race rounds.
And every third race, you takeout the bottom four drivers.
Uh win and you're in, if you wina race in that round, you move
on automatically.
And if you win a race in thefirst 26 races, you're
(02:37):
automatically in the playoffs.
Into the playoffs.
So it's a it's a veryresults-driven sport where
winning is rewarded, even thoughwe lose way more races or we
win, we lose way more eventsthan any other professional
athlete.
So think about if an NFL playerlost every game he entered for
(02:58):
years.
Well, that can happen in NASCAR.
Sure.
Um if a team went and didn't winfor 25 weeks.
Well, that's longer than the NFLseason.
SPEAKER_03 (03:06):
So But you got some wins under your belt.
I know that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
About five five wins.
The most recent one, uh, Kansaslast fall.
Too late to make the playoffs,but still to win in NASCAR,
especially when 16 drivers arevying for the championship,
they're bringing their best,their A game.
And we continued to do that aswell at Track House, and we were
able to win.
Um, so yeah, it's um it's veryuh important to keep winning.
(03:30):
Uh it's how we keep our jobs,it's how we stay in the sport.
SPEAKER_03 (03:33):
So you grew up on a farm in Florida, and uh how did
that factor into you gettinginto racing, or how'd you get
into racing?
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
I got into racing through a hobby and then a
desire to do something otherthan the farm.
I at 18 years old, I wanted tochase the racing.
It was what woke me up when Iwoke up every day.
I was thinking about race cars,not watermelons.
So I knew okay, I shouldprobably chase what just
naturally excites me.
Um because at the time,watermelons they're they're
work.
It's a it's a full-time job.
(04:04):
You need to be invested in it,you need to be there every day
from a farming perspective.
Yeah, and uh my dad and brotherand family they're they got that
covered, so I chased the racecars.
And uh it taught me that a raindelay at the racetrack is a lot
better than a heavy storm at thefarm that might flood our our
field and drown the watermelons.
Yeah, uh a hot race is muchbetter than a drought at the
(04:25):
farm that could burn thewatermelon plants and cost us
our livelihood.
So um, yeah, it's uh it taughtme everything I know, but it set
me up to go chase race cars.
SPEAKER_03 (04:35):
And this is a long uh generational thing for your
family.
You you are the eighthgeneration?
SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
Yeah, my brother and I are eighth consecutive
generations of watermelons.
And that goes back to when wellthey we know that the first
Chastain came over from Francein 1700, brought a group over on
there was a ship that came overand there was a lot of Chastains
on it.
Uh, and they started, theylanded in Richmond, Virginia.
Yeah and uh and have then wentto South Carolina, then Georgia,
(05:02):
and then my grandfather um andmy great-grandfather moved the
family south to South Florida uhin the 50s.
And so um looking for a betterlife, an earlier crop of
watermelons.
It wasn't the good old days backthen, it was hard-living and not
a lot of money.
So they went to South Florida,and that's where our family
story really changed and set ourgenerations up with my dad and
(05:25):
my dad's generation and hissiblings, and then my brother
and I, and our generation ofcousins were really close with a
lot of them, worked togetherwith work with a lot of them at
the farm.
Yeah, and uh yeah, it's um it Ifeel like today is the good old
days, and we're trying to makesure we put the farm in a spot
where it's gonna be that way fora long time now.
SPEAKER_03 (05:43):
That's great.
So, with roots that deep inAmerica, you must have when we
talked about, I know yourgrandfather at least served in
the military.
But do you know if you have anyancestors going back Civil War
era or even further?
SPEAKER_01 (05:57):
Beyond that, um, I'm not the history buff in the
family.
My dad is, uh, but not that Iknow off the top of my head, but
yeah, I do know that my granddadCarly served uh in the army.
Um after they moved to SouthFlorida, they were there a year
and it was not a good lifestarting out.
And so his brother was a littlebit older.
Uh so my great uncle TJ wentinto the Navy, my grandfather
(06:19):
went in the army, and um yeah,they um did they don't talk
about it a lot, but um proud ofwhat they did, and they're
they're proud that they servedtheir country and came back and
then they realized they werethey then they were ready to
grow the farm and to to put acrop in the ground and nurture
it and and grow it, and uhwatermelons have been a part of
that story all along.
SPEAKER_03 (06:39):
Yeah.
And we know that you know ourour partners at NASCAR and all
you drivers do tons for theveteran and military family
community, and you know, wethank you all so much for that.
You gotta tell everyone how yougot the nickname the Melon Man.
SPEAKER_01 (06:52):
Eighth generation watermelon farmer, man.
But there's more though.
SPEAKER_03 (06:56):
Yeah, so so you have a there's something you do.
SPEAKER_01 (07:00):
Yeah, so when I got into the sport, the agriculture
community is who sponsored meand who funded my career.
Uh nobody in NASCAR or or reallythe general world knew who Ross
Chastain was, but people in AGdid.
They knew my family, my dad, mygrandparents, and beyond, my
uncle.
So they we we leveraged the farmand business to to fund the
(07:21):
racing.
Um, and so I would havewatermelons at the track, I
would be cutting them up.
We had watermelon queens there.
So people early on didn't reallyknow who the kid driving the
truck was, but they rememberedthe watermelon.
It's a smile fruit, man.
It's it's hard to forgetsuddenly watermelons at a
racetrack.
So uh when we won our firstrace, go through victory lane.
I held up a watermelon, it wasthis great moment, and then I
(07:45):
sat it down, I didn't reallyknow what to do.
And uh we about an hour later werealized, oh, let's bust it open
and eat it.
So we did that, and thetradition was born.
So now the first thing I dobefore I talk to anybody, I
don't talk to TV, radio,nothing.
I get out, my crew runs me awatermelon out, I smash it right
there on the racetrack, reallyclose out on the track so the
fans can see it.
I usually give some to a fan uhthrough the fence, and uh with a
(08:08):
five-second rule, we pick itright up right up off the
ground.
There you go.
We we go for uh 36 pointsevents.
We'll take Easter off for cup,and then we'll have the all-star
race in there as well.
So we we go every week and we'llbe coming somewhere close to
where everybody's listening fromand hopefully come out to a
race.
SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
Uh and besides going to NASCAR, where can folks go to
learn more about you and TrackHouse and the number one Chevy
team?
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah, all the social channels, man.
Ross Chastain has uh we've goteverything covered on all the
channels, Track House does aswell.
And uh the Mellon Man brand.
So, I mean, if you're lookingfor truly not NASCAR specific,
not Ross specific, but just wehave a lifestyle brand, I guess
we'll call it.
But uh Mellon Man brand, justwatermelon themed stuff, um
(08:52):
lighthearted, just have some funwith it.
And um, yeah, it ties in theracing, it ties in the
agriculture, it's kind of amelting pot of everything in my
life.
And um I just they don't have toremember my name, but they can
remember watermelons, and it'swhat puts food on our table, so
selfishly.
If I can talk about it, I'mgoing to.
SPEAKER_03 (09:11):
Very cool.
Well, thanks for coming by,spending a few minutes with us,
Ross.
Good luck this season atDaytona, and we'll be watching
hope to see some watermelons.
All right.
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