CONCORD, N.C.: To no one’s surprise, Trackhouse Racing was fast again at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series crown jewel Coca-Cola 600, but it wasn’t Ross Chastain that appeared as the team’s favorite – Daniel Suarez stormed to the front and kept his pace at the front of the field for most of the night.
After moving from his 12th place starting position, Suarez hunted down leader Kyle Busch on Lap 45 and took control of the race a lap later – with Busch who drifted high in Turn 2 spinning in Suarez’s rear-view mirror.
Once the race resumed, Suarez maintained control of the race for 17 laps during the run until Chase Elliott zoomed past for the lead on Lap 63.
As the race marched on in Stage 1, Suarez who later pitted for scuffs to try and preserve his sticker tires on pit road nearly crashed out of the race and went a lap down to Stage 1 winner Chase Elliott as he grasped the extremely ill-handling No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to the best of his ability.
During the yellow flag in-between Stages, his Trackhouse Racing team was able to change tires, add fuel and repair the light cosmetic damage he obtained earlier in the race while battling Christopher Bell inside the top-10.
As Stage 2 rolled on so did Suarez’s progress towards the front. With a methodical approach and an extremely fast race car underneath him, Suarez thanks to an array of caution flags that kept the field bunched up, the former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion was able to muscle his way back inside the top five and then retook control of the race on Lap 197 from his teammate Chastain and soared to the Stage 2 win, collecting valuable stage point and a playoff point he hopes to utilize later in the season in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Unfortunately, during Stage 3, Suarez’s presence at the front and the opportunity to net his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory would come to an abrupt halt.
Following a caution for debris, Suarez’s car on a restart broke loose on Lap 346 of 413 and slammed into the frontstretch wall before being hit by Todd Gilliland which then sent the No. 99 into the No. 17 of Chris Buescher who spun in the infield grass and then barreled roll several times after the suspension dug into the frontstretch turf.
After five minutes of being on his roof, Buescher’s car was turned off and he climbed from the car uninjured and was later evaluated and released from the infield care center.
For Suarez, his 25th place finish wasn’t an indicator of his performance after leading four times for 36 laps.
“Just a mistake,” offered Suarez. They were side by side in front of me and I was fine with the front and eventually, I got into the middle of the wake and I got super tight,” said Suarez. “I put myself in a bad situation there. It was very close with the No. 14 (Chase Briscoe). Just a tough situation.
“I just hope Chris (Buescher) is fine.”
Aside from the accident, Suarez was once again proud of the efforts of his Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned team whose race shop is nestled less than 10 miles from the 1.5-mile speedway.
“My team they built a rocket,” added Suarez. “We had a fast car, something to be proud of, Just have to do a few things better.”
“We had the best car out there. It was just a struggle for us on pit road. Not for my guys, but the situation where we were with the 22 (Joey Logano) and 11 (Denny Hamlin), but we have to learn from it and come back stronger.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
