From farm to track: Chastain puts watermelons in spotlight

Ross Chastain started the NASCAR season with one watermelon and it traveled with him from track to track. The fruit lasted five weeks before “The Watermelon Man” had to freshen his supply.

The eighth generation watermelon farmer from Florida did not call home and ask his family to send a fresh melon to Austin, Texas, for the first road course of the season. He headed to the store.

We buy them at the grocery store, just like everybody else does,” Chastain said. “My food comes from the grocery store, and our watermelons for NASCAR Cup Series victories do, too.”

Watermelons have rarely been highlighted the way they were Sunday when Chastain won his first career Cup race. In his 121st career start, Chastain finally got to climb atop a Cup car and spike a watermelon from the roof of his Chevrolet in victory celebration.

The 29-year-old then snagged a chunk of broken watermelon off the Circuit of the Americas asphalt and took a hearty bite. Chastain carried that slice of watermelon through all his victory obligations, a true symbol of how far he’s come in his career.

“I don’t know how to process it yet. I sit here, and I look at this (watermelon) and I think back to the stories of our family,” Chastain said after his aggressive battle with former teammate AJ Allmendinger on the final lap of overtime earned him and Trackhouse Racing their first victories.

The Chastain family initially settled in Georgia until Chastain’s great-grandfather relocated to Punta Gorda, Florida. J.D.I Farms began when his great-grandfather finished his military commitment and has been passed down several generations.

The farm is currently run by Chastain’s father, Ralph, and his brother, Chad. The family has five full-time employees — so yes, Chastain has to farm when he’s home in Florida — and an outside crew is used for planting, watering and harvesting.