Unique strategy falls short of a win for Daniel Suarez
RICHMOND, Va. — Daniel Suarez’s team had arguably the best strategy of the entire field Sunday night in Richmond but only a 10th-place finish to show for it.
Sunday’s Cook Out 400 had crew chiefs juggling between prime tires that were better over the course of a long green-flag run than option tires that had much more speed during a shorter run.
Suarez started 21st and moved up to 16th when stage two began. He was the first driver to test the option tire. That paid off as he drove to the lead within 15 laps.
“It was fun. It was like Mario Kart with a star,” Suarez said post-race.
Suarez remained one of the strongest cars in the field. He went on to win the second stage, boosting his playoff point total from five to six with his first stage win of the season.
When stage three began, Suarez dropped right back to 16th. His team saved the final set of option tires for late in the final stage.
With 35 laps to go, Suarez came to pit road. When he returned to the track, he was in 16th, a lap down. But, as he ran as much as a second-and-a-half faster than leader Austin Dillon, a win was possible.
However, Suarez’s progression through the field soon stalled out in sixth. With two laps to go, a caution came out and sent the race into overtime.
In overtime, everyone else took their last set of option tires. Meanwhile, Suarez pitted for prime tires. With the speed difference, Suarez dropped back to 10th.
“That was a fun race! These option tires, if NASCAR and the fans didn’t like it, I don’t know what they would like because they were amazing. The strategy played a huge role in what everyone was doing; what we were doing and everyone’s different agenda. It was fun,” Suarez said. “The guys did an amazing job with the strategy. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out at the end, but we gave it a shot and we ended up with a 10th place finish.”
Suarez now has six finishes of 16th or better in his last eight NASCAR Cup Series races. That includes three Top-10 finishes.
Suarez will likely face an uphill battle come playoff time, but the momentum as of late will serve him well with just three races to go until the playoffs.
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
