Stock car racing has always been a family business.
The garages where legends were born passed their secrets from grandfather to father to son – not in boardrooms, but in the smell of race fuel and the sound of engines turning over before dawn.
Chase Pistone carried one of those bloodlines – and on Monday, at just 42 years old, he was gone.
Tiger Tom Pistone and the NASCAR Dynasty Chase Was Born Into
You have to understand what the Pistone name means to people who love this sport at its roots.
Chase's grandfather, "Tiger" Tom Pistone, was one of the tough-as-nails Chicago brawlers who helped build NASCAR from nothing in the 1950s.
Tom won two Grand National races in 1959, finished sixth in the championship standings, and raced in the very first Daytona 500.
He wasn't just a driver.
After his racing days ended, Tiger Tom built engines and cars that carried other men to victory lane – Harry Gant and Bobby Isaac among them.
You race hard, you build fast cars, and when you're done driving, you teach the next generation everything you know.
Chase Pistone inherited that philosophy.
Chase Pistone's Racing Career: From NASCAR Trucks to 80 Feature Wins
Chase made 10 starts across NASCAR's national series between 2005 and 2014, competing in the Xfinity Series, the Craftsman Truck Series, and the ARCA Menards Series.
His career-best national finish came at Iowa Speedway in 2014 – 14th place, driving the No. 31 Chevrolet for Turner Scott Motorsports.
In the Truck Series, he recorded a best finish of ninth at Gateway that same year, wheeling the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado for NTS Motorsports.
But the numbers that tell his real story aren't found in NASCAR's record books.
Chase claimed more than 80 feature wins in Legends, Late Model, and USAR competition.
He was a four-time Summer Shootout Champion – the kind of short-track wars where racers earn respect one corner at a time.
In 2007, he won a USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series event at Concord Speedway.
How Chase Pistone Inc. Became a Force in Legends Car Racing
When his driving days wound down, Chase didn't walk away from racing.
He walked deeper into it.
He built his own team – Chase Pistone Inc. – and fielded Legends and Late Model cars that showed up at the track every week expecting to win.
Usually they did.
He became the kind of man NASCAR's grassroots world runs on – the team owner who arrives early, stays late, and pours everything he knows into young drivers who can't yet afford to make the mistakes he already made for them.
RFK Racing executive Brian Murphy said it plainly when the news broke Monday: Chase was "a true mentor who poured his time, knowledge, and passion into the next generation."
His sister-in-law, Phaedra Pistone, wrote to Hickory Motor Speedway asking them to honor Chase's memory this weekend.
"The track was not just a place to him," she wrote – "it was part of his life, his passion, and a place filled with meaningful memories for our entire family."
A Family Devastated, A Community Grieving
Chase's brother Nick announced his passing on Facebook Monday afternoon.
"My young brother and best friend is gone," Nick wrote.
"I'm broken-hearted and don't know if I'll ever get over this."
Nick and his brother Tom asked Legends Nation to share the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
If you or someone you love is struggling, that number is 988 – available by phone or text, any hour of the day.
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, who raced alongside Chase in Legends competition, shared his own grief publicly Monday.
The tributes came from across the garage – from team owners, from fellow competitors, from the grassroots racers who knew Chase not as a name on a door but as the guy who helped them get faster.
He was 42 years old.
The garage doors don't close on names like his.
Sources:
- Toby Christie, "Chase Pistone, Former NASCAR Competitor, Dies Aged 42," Racing America on SI, March 2, 2026.
- Staff, "Former NASCAR Driver Chase Pistone Dead at 42," TMZ Sports, March 3, 2026.
- Staff, "Chase Pistone, Former NASCAR Driver, Dies at 42," NBC News, March 3, 2026.
- Staff, "Former NASCAR Driver Chase Pistone Dies at 42," Heavy.com, March 3, 2026.
- Staff, "NASCAR Beginnings Featuring an Interview with 'Tiger' Tom Pistone," SpeedwayMedia.com, November 15, 2011.
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