Ross Chastain would like you to know that he isn't actually a watermelon farmer.
He may have grown up on a watermelon farm, with a family of watermelon farmers, but he is not a watermelon farmer.
Chastain's ties to his family's watermelon farm are well known, sometimes running watermelon paint schemes on his car and always smashing a melon on the track after race wins.
The Trackhouse Racing star was speaking recently to The Athletic's Jeff Gluck for his weekly 12 Questions column when he was asked for something that would surprise people who think they know him, and explained that he doesn't actually consider himself a watermelon farmer.
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Chastain: I don't live at the farm
"I’m not actually a farmer," Chastain said. "I’m the son of a farmer. Brother of a farmer. I don’t live at the farm.
"I moved to North Carolina in January of 2012. Moved into Bobby Dotter’s shop, drove up through the night and lived in the apartment upstairs. Committed to racing.
"I go back to the farm in the offseason. I used to go back more during the season when I wasn’t full-time. I don’t have a house in Florida. I live there some in the offseason, but not much."
Chastain 'worried' grandfather would be upset by melon smash
He also explained the origin of his famous celebration, admitting that he actually hadn't intended to smash the melon after his Xfinity Series win at Las Vegas – just hold it up in celebration in victory lane, carrying it around with him until someone in the media center asked what he planned to do with it. They went out and smashed the melon on the track later that day, and a tradition was born.
"But we’d carried watermelons to the track for years before that," he said. "At short tracks, we’d bring them, but never smash them. We’d just use them to remind people about watermelons. Marketing, right?
"So it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Honestly, I was worried my grandfather would be upset. He grew up in a time when you didn’t waste food. If you threw food on the ground at Granddaddy’s house, you’d be in big trouble.
"I called him about an hour later (after the first smash) and told him what happened. They looked it up on Facebook and saw it. He was super excited. He said we’d never know how many people saw watermelons that day and how many extra got sold."
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