Daniel Suarez recovers to continue success at Texas Motor Speedway
FORT WORTH, Texas — Daniel Suarez recovered from running last of anyone on track to finish inside the top-5 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Suarez started 17th and ran there for much of stage one. The first shuffle, the caution on lap 50, put Suarez back to 25th which he visibly did not like. He dropped back to 32nd at the end of the stage.
“Rear tires are chattering, not good,” Suarez said over the radio.
Suarez said post-race the team made adjustments on the car to make it better. With passing so hard at times, Suarez couldn’t get out of the high-teens to low-20s.
Like with Keselowski and many others, staying out and catching a caution put him in the mix to do something.
Suarez was savvy on restarts, at one point gaining a total of six spots in two restarts. He got seven spots on the subsequent restart with 33 laps to go, moving from 17th to 10th.
With fresher tires, he moved to sixth and stayed there through the final few restarts. He moved up one more spot to nab one more spot for his first top-5 finish since his win at Atlanta.
Albeit, at the expense of his teammate. Ross Chastain wrecked on the final lap while running second.
“I feel bad for the 1 guys. They did a hell of a job all race long. They should’ve finished top-5. But we as a group still have work to do. We have good speed but we’re inconsistent right now,” Suarez said. “After stage one, if you’d told me we’d finish top-5, I’d have told you that you were crazy. But it worked out good.”
In the last eight TMS races, Suarez has now finished 12th or better six times.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com