Ross Chastain continues to have his sights on his second-seeded spot in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, but the Florida native knows there’s plenty more going on off the track, including in his home of Lee County.
Fortunately for Chastain, who graduated from Riverdale High in Fort Myers before attending Florida Gulf Coast University, he’s received the all-clear from his family.
“I haven’t seen any pictures or videos, their phones aren’t working enough to send pictures or videos out. It stopped yesterday afternoon. But I talked to a lot of my family on the phone, everybody is accounted for and everybody we know is accounted for, that’s first and foremost,” Chastain told reporters, per FOX Sports Bob Pockrass. “In my dad’s words, this is the worst storm he’s ever seen. He’s lived through them all, we’ve never left.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t going to be sleeping in their homes tonight,” Chastain added. “The river was higher, pushed more water, crossed over the lots system, went further up river and flooded houses that have never flooded before. It got close to ours and our neighbors, but we were safe.”
Chastain, an eighth generation watermelon farmer, acknowledged how others have been impacted in that aspect, as well.
“A lot of pole barns down,” Chastain said. “We don’t have any watermelon in the ground right now, but we know people who have different vegetables. There’s just a lot of veg growing in South Florida right now. I haven’t made any of those calls yet because I checked people were OK. I’ll let the farmers tell me later on how it works out.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will shift to Talladega Superspeedway with the YellaWood 500 on Sunday, an event Chastain is 15-to-1 to win according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
