AUSTIN, Texas: During the first stage of Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), it appeared that if you wanted to win, you would have to dethrone Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez.
Then came the end of Stage 1. Suarez had dominated the opening stage, led all 15 laps and picked up 10 stage points and 1 Playoff point.
Little did Suarez and his Travis Mack-led team know that Stage 1 would be the highlight of his afternoon around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course.
While others opted for track position entering Stage 2, Suarez and his No. 99 CommScope team felt the stage win and points would be more beneficial. After making their scheduled pit stop at the end of the stage, Suarez would find himself marred mid-pack for the restart.
At the start of Stage 2, Suarez didn’t even make it out of Turn 1 before his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZLE 1LE was spun off the bumper of another competitor which contributed to a flat tire on Suarez’s race car and forced him to nurse the car back to pit road for four new tires.
Suarez returned to the track early in Stage 2 still on the lead lap but spent much of the second stage at the rear of the field compared to just 10 laps earlier dominating the field.
Luckily, the Monterrey, Mexico native was able to stay ahead of Stage 2 winner Denny Hamlin and put himself back in sequence with most of the field at the end of the stage.
Immediately following the start of Stage 3, however, more drama found the 30-year-old driver as he reported to crew chief Mack, that he was losing the power steering in his automobile.
Utilizing cautions to their advantage during Stage 3, the team would attempt to correct the issue, but Suarez would once again find himself hovering at the rear of the field.
Through some hard-fought racing and strategy of his other competitors, Suarez had muscled his way back inside the top-15 to as high as 13th before having to bring the car back to pit road again near the end of the race which erased any hope of contending for a top-10 finish.
Despite restarting outside the top-30 in the closing laps, Suarez was able to climb back to 24th – while his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain scored the organizations’ first career Cup Series victory.
“I am so disappointed because we had a rocket ship today,” Suarez said after the race. “But we got spun, and then the power steering went out and that made it hard.”
While seeing teammate Chastain soak up the team’s first career Cup victory could understandably be tough for Suarez to swallow, the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion was happy for what amigo and Trackhouse teammate team had accomplished.
“I am very happy for Ross (Chastain) and all of Trackhouse Racing,” added Suarez. “Especially happy for Justin Marks. It will be our turn soon. I hope the people at Trackhouse enjoy the victory.”
Team owner Justin Marks said he understood how Suarez could feel gutted for not being able to deliver the company’s first checkered flag in Cup Series competition – especially since Suarez has been instrumental in building the foundation of what was a solo Trackhouse team in 2021.
“I think he is gutted today (Sunday), it’s human nature,” said Marks. “He lost his power steering with 28 laps, had no power steering the last 28 laps of this race. He was a warrior and soldier to finish this thing.
“Especially after leading every lap in the first stage and winning it, and he was so early in the process of building Trackhouse that I think in his mind he was always going to be the guy that was going to deliver our first win. I think that’s hard on him.
“These guys are all so competitive. We’ve done a good job at Trackhouse building two teams that really, really help each other. But when you distill that all the way down to the glory of winning a race and your first career race and sticking a Chevy in the Playoffs, it’s hard. It’s hard to navigate that teamwork, that selflessness and all that.
“He is gutted. He came over and gave Ross a hug. He understands the mission here, and he is probably already thinking about Richmond. And I’m excited to see what he is going to do in the next couple of weeks.”
And while COTA wasn’t Suarez’s day – Marks said he will try to keep the No. 99 team’s spirits up by reminding them of the long-term scope of the race team and the plenty of Cup racing that remains on deck in 2022.
“We’re building a team around both these guys (Chastain and Suarez), and that’s what I’ll tell him this week is you have an awesome opportunity to win Richmond in five days from now, and that’s what we’re going to focus on,” sounded Marks.
Marks, a former Cup Series driver made another prediction for his Trackhouse Racing team on Sunday evening.
With Chastain already securing one of 16 secured spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Marks believes by the time the Playoffs arrive in September, Suarez will be a part of the Playoff action too.
“(I am) Super, super proud of the 99 team,” sounded Marks. Daniel was very focused this week and put a lot of pressure on himself to try to deliver a win, and circumstances dictated otherwise.
He wants it really, really bad, and I know that it’s coming for him soon. He has a ton of speed. He has a great team behind him. We’re all behind him.
“He has a lot of fight in him. He is not going to give up until we get him in Victory Lane. I think both of our cars will be in the Playoffs this year. We just got to make sure we put them in that position.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
