Michigan might be an historically good track for Joe Gibbs Racing, but as I alluded to last week, they all had to beat Kevin Harvick. That proved to be a tall order. (more…)
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Chase Wins One (In A/For A) Million; Austin Wins at Texas
It was another fun-filled week of racing with the All Star race Wednesday night at Bristol and the Cup race at Texas. Chase Elliott won an entertaining but anticlimactic All Star race. Bristol proved it is an All Star caliber track that offered a different style of racing than Charlotte, as if there was really any doubt. (more…)
Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series Race Report – Bristol
Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series Race Report
Track: Bristol Motor Speedway
Race: Food City Presents Supermarket Heroes 500
Date: May 31, 2020
____________________________________
No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Brad Keselowski
Start: 1st
Stage 1: 3rd
Stage 2: 9th
Finish: 1st (32nd-career NASCAR Cup Series victory)
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 500/500
Laps Led: 115
Point Standings (behind first): 4th (-55)
Notes:
- Brad Keselowski went from third to first with three laps to go to score his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2020 season Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Keselowski was running behind leaders Joey Logano and Chase Elliott when the they made contact in Turn 3. The driver of the Discount Tire Ford grabbed the lead with three laps to go and never looked back, officially taking the checkered flag by .471 seconds over second-place Clint Bowyer.
- Keselowski drew the pole position and led the first 62 laps in the event before scoring a third-place finish when Stage 1 ended on lap 125. The driver of the No. 2 Mustang was good at the top of the track but was struggling with turning in the center on the bottom. He pitted on lap 130 for four tires and restarted fourth when the race went green on lap 136.
- He finished ninth when Stage 2 ended on lap 250. Keselowski said he needed a longer run and for the track to come to him. A mix of pit strategies among the leaders shuffled the driver of the Discount Tire Ford Mustang back to 16th when the third and final stage went green on lap 261.
- By lap 327, Keselowski has worked his way into the top-10 but got zapped by a speeding penalty after a four-tire stop under caution on lap 330, moving him back to 16th position.
- On lap 460, crew chief Jeremy Bullins made the pit call that put his driver in position to win the race. He called Keselowski to pit road for a change of left-side tires. Keselowski restarted 12th three laps later and, armed with fresher tires, began his march to the front.
- He was up to fourth-place when the 17th and final caution set up the final restart of the race on lap 495. Lined up in the preferred outside lane, Keselowski was in perfect position to avoid trouble when Logano and Elliott made contact, giving him the lead with three laps to go.
- The victory was Keselowski’s second of the 2020 season and his 32nd in 386 NASCAR Cup Series races. He won for the third time in 21 Cup starts at Bristol Motor Speedway and jumps up to fourth-place in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings.
Quotes: “We kind of got a Christmas present here in Bristol but we’ll take it. We’re in position and able to strike when it counted with the Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Joey and Chase got together there, and I don’t know what all caused it, but we were just in position to strike and here we are in victory lane. I wish I could celebrate with my team, but you know how everything is right now. There’s so much going on in the world I’m just so thankful to get to be a race car driver and get to do this.”
________________________________________________
No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Start: 4th
Stage 1: 2nd
Stage 2: 40th
Finish: 40th
Status: Accident
Laps Completed: 199/500
Laps Led: 60
Point Standings (Behind First): 9th (-96)
- A promising early start for Ryan Blaney ended up with an accident on lap 199 and a 40th-place finish in the Supermarket Heroes 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The driver of the Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang led 60 laps on the day.
- Blaney started fourth and quickly worked his way to second behind teammate Brad Keselowski. A lap-20 competition caution would see the High Point, N.C. native remain on track. He would fall back to fifth on the restart before the caution would waive for second time on lap 62 for another competition caution. Solid pit service would get Blaney out fourth.
- On the restart, Blaney would get back up to second behind Keselowski and would eventually pass him for the lead on lap 84. He would lead the next 21 circuits before being passed by Chase Elliott on lap 105. Blaney would hold on to second when Stage 1 ended on lap 125.
- Strong pit service by the Menards crew got Blaney out with the lead as Stage 2 began. He would lead the next 39 laps before relinquishing the top spot to Keselowski on lap 170.
- On lap 199, Blaney would get loose in turn 2 while racing for the lead and lose control of the Menards Ford. He would be hit by Ty Dillion, ending a promising a day. Blaney now sits eighth in the championship standings, 96 points behind leader Kevin Harvick.
Quote: “I was running up there for a little bit. I did not think I was that high and suddenly I hit a slick spot. I was way high and that is obviously not where I wanted to be, but I did not think I was that high getting in there. It might have just been trying to get too much and got in the marbles and spun out. I thought we were going be okay and then we got destroyed about six seconds later, so that’s just Bristol. I probably should not have been pushing that hard, but I was trying to get back to the lead. I thought we found some speed up there, just a mistake on my part. I hate it for Menards and Richmond and everybody on this No. 12 team. After having two strong weeks, you go and you wreck not even halfway, so that is just a bummer. We’ll go to Atlanta and see what we can do.”
________________________________________________
No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang – Joey Logano
Start: 3rd
Stage 1: 5th
Stage 2: 4th
Finish: 21st
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 500/500
Laps Led: 2
Point Standings (Behind First): 2nd (-14)
Notes:
- Joey Logano started third and lead the race with just three laps remaining, but was forced into the outside wall late, ending a stellar day and remarkable late race surge by the No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang by finishing 21st. Logano was credited with leading two laps on the afternoon after rebounding from a pit road speeding penalty late in the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- After starting third, Logano raced inside the top-five throughout the opening stage. The team elected to remain on the track at the lap 20-caution flag. In the run to the end of the first stage, Logano reported the Autotrader Ford Mustang was good on entry and exit. The stage ending stop netted Logano two positions and lined him up in third for the Stage 2 start.
- During the second stage, Logano reported he’d lost center turn in the Autotrader Mustang, and with a caution at lap 199. To complicate matters, Logano took right rear damage racing three-wide. Logano survived some inside lane restarts late in the second stage, ultimately bringing the Autotrader Ford Mustang home in the fourth position at the green-checkered.
- Split strategies on the stage ending caution lined the Autotrader Ford Mustang up in the 13th position for the restart, the deepest Logano had been in the field all afternoon. On a lap 330 pit stop, quick work by the 22 crew sent Logano from eighth to third, however, the Autotrader Mustang was assessed a pit penalty for too fast entering, dropping Logano to the 17th position for the restart.
- As caution with 68 laps remaining brought the teams back to pit road, Logano reported he needed to be freed up for the run to the finish as he’d been battling a tight condition. As the race continued to play out, Logano found himself inside the top-five and briefly claimed the lead with three laps to go before the No. 9 of Chase Elliott missed corner entry, collecting Logano and the No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang, ending a remarkable rebound.
Quote: “We just got wrecked there at the end. It’s a shame, we made good changes all day on our Autotrader Mustang, put ourselves in a position to win and then got wrecked with three to go. It’s unfortunate, we had a really good points day and had a shot at a third win on the season there at the end.”
Clint Bowyer 2nd in Bristol
Late Surge Propels No. 14 ‘Built Ford Proud’ Mustang
Date: May 31, 2020
Event: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 (Round 9 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Start/Finish: 23rd/2nd (Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
Point Standing: 12th with 232 points, 138 out of first
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):
● Clint Bowyer started 23rd and finished 12th.
● The No. 14 “Built Ford Proud” Mustang held its position early in the race before stopping at the lap 20 competition caution.
● Bowyer moved from 29th to 19th before pitting during the second competition caution on lap 60.
● Bowyer began turning “crazy fast times” according to the crew driving from 17th to 12th before the end of the stage.
● During the stage break, Bowyer pitted for adjustments to help the car’s rotation in the turns.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):
● Bowyer started 10th and finished sixth to earn five bonus points.
● The No. 14 “Built Ford Proud” Mustang faded to 16th by lap 180 with Bowyer reporting the car was “really tight.”
● Bowyer pitted for major adjustments to fix the issue during a caution on lap 200.
● The changes helped as Bowyer clawed back to 10th by lap 230 when a nine-car accident stopped the race for 11 minutes.
● Bowyer restarted the race in 10th with just 15 laps left and moved to eighth before another caution slowed the field.
● Bowyer jumped from eighth to sixth in the seven-lap green flag run to end the stage.
.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 251-500):
● Bowyer started 14th, finished second.
● The No. 14 “Built Ford Proud” Mustang moved to eighth by the caution on lap 360.
● Over the next 70 laps, tight handling issues plus cars with fresher tires shuffled Bowyer back to 15th.
● Bowyer pitted for adjustments and restarted the race in 14th with 61 laps remaining.
● Things got worse as Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman made contact sending Newman into Bowyer causing significant left-side damage to the No. 14.
● Bowyer restarted the race in 13th with 37 laps remaining. Immediately after the restart Bowyer deftly avoided a seven-car accident in front of him.
● Bowyer restarted ninth with 30 laps to go and used fresh tires to drive to fifth before the next caution flew with 10 to go.
● The race restarted with just five laps remaining and it didn’t take long for the leaders Joey Logano and Chase Elliott to start beating and banging.
● Bowyer never lifted as the pair collided and slid into the wall to claim second place.
● There weren’t enough laps to chase down Keselowski for the victory.
Notes:
● Bowyer earned his second top-five and third top-10 of the season, and his eighth top-five and 16th top-10 in 29 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
● This is Bowyer’s fifth straight top-10 at Bristol and his seventh top-10 in the last nine races at Bristol.
● Since joining SHR in 2017, Bowyer has only finished outside the top-10 once at Bristol.
● Keselowski won the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 to score his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Bowyer was .471 of a second.
● This was Ford’s series-best fifth win of the season and its 691st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory.
● This was Ford’s 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol. The last Ford driver to win at Bristol was Kurt Busch in August 2018 while a member of SHR.
● There were 17 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.
● Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kevin Harvick remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 24-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 ‘Built Ford Proud’ Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Wow what a finish. That got wild. The boys hung in there and just kept digging. The old girl said “Built Ford Proud” when she probably should have said “Built Ford Tough” because she had all four corners knocked off it. We actually struggled pretty bad with our setup. I don’t know, it was floating the nose really bad up off the corner all day long. I could gain and make some ground up in the center of the corner in, and in the middle, but if I had to pass somebody and turn underneath of them I didn’t have the real estate. The outside was no man’s land for me. I couldn’t get my front end to turn at all.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Custer Finishes 35th at Bristol
Accident Ends Rookie’s Day Prematurely
Date: May 31, 2020
Event: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 (Round 9 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Start/Finish: 22nd/35th (Accident, completed 228 of 500 laps)
Point Standing: 24th with 140 points, 230 out of first
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsport (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsport (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):
● Cole Custer started 22nd and finished 26th.
● Throughout the first two cautions, Custer remained on the track in his HaasTooling.com Mustang even though he was tight to the center and off of the turns. He restarted 13th on lap 29.
● At the lap-62 competition caution, Custer pitted from 20th for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his tight handling condition. He restarted 24th.
● During the Stage 1 break, the 22-year-old pitted from 26th for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his tight-handling HaasTooling.com Mustang.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):
● Custer started 20th and finished 35th.
● The caution was thrown on lap 198 and the California native reported his car was improving and would like more of the previous adjustment. After visiting pit road, he restarted 21st on lap 207.
● Next caution was displayed on lap 211 with Custer in the 19th spot. He didn’t visit pit road and restarted 18th on lap 216.
● On lap 217, the caution was once again displayed with Custer in 17th.
● Custer restarted 17th on lap 221 after not pitting.
● On lap 228, Custer was collected in a multi-car accident, which ultimately ended his day and relegated him to a 35th-place finish.
Notes:
● Custer made his 12th career NASCAR Cup Series start and his first at Bristol.
● Brad Keselowski won the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 to score his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Bowyer was .471 of a second.
● This was Ford’s series-best fifth win of the season and its 691st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory.
● This was Ford’s 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol. The last Ford driver to win at Bristol was Kurt Busch in August 2018 while a member of SHR.
● There were 17 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.
● Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Harvick remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 24-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Well, that stinks. We were getting our car a lot better and then caught up in the wreck. Just so little time to react so you get caught up in them pretty easily here at Bristol. That’s just how it is here. I thought our HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang was getting a lot better. I felt like we could’ve run in the top-10. We were a lot better than where we were running. We were going forward, but our pit stall wasn’t helping us either. We were getting blocked in about every time and that hurt us too. We’ll move on to the next one, but man, I thought we were going to have a good day here.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Almirola Finishes 29th at Bristol
Smithfield Ford Driver Races as High as Second; Involved in Lap-464 Accident
Date: May 31, 2020
Event: Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 (Round 9 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Start/Finish: 2nd/29th (Accident, completed 470 of 500 laps)
Point Standing: 11th (240 points, 130 out of first)
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):
● Aric Almirola started second and finished fourth, earning seven stage points.
● The Smithfield Ford driver started on the bottom groove and fell to sixth before a caution on lap six.
● Almirola drove to fourth before the competition caution.
● He restarted fourth and drove the No. 10 Ford to second-place before the second competition caution.
● Almirola pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments to restart third.
● Starting on lap 110, Almirola tapped the No. 2 car’s bumper multiple times to ultimately make the pass. He noted tight-handling conditions during the run and held the No. 10 Ford inside the top-five.
● He pitted at the end of the stage for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):
● Almirola started sixth and finished 21st.
● Almirola raced the No. 10 Ford to fourth by lap 177.
● He was scored second after a caution on lap 199. He said his car was good on the long runs and tight on the restarts.
● Almirola pitted for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments to restart fifth.
● After a red flag on lap 229, Almirola was scored eighth. On the restart, he said he may have a tire going down and pitted for four tires, fuel and adjustments.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 251-500):
● Almirola started 10th and finished 20th.
● Almirola advanced the Smithfield Ford six positions on the restart before a caution on lap 269.
● He raced to third before a caution on lap 329. He pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments to restart third.
● After another caution on lap 355, Almirola reported a loose wheel and pitted for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments to restart 10th.
● Almirola was contacted by the No. 2 car on the restart and dropped to 13th.
● He rejoined the top-10 on lap 393.
● Almirola pitted under caution on lap 433 from eighth-place for four tires, fuel and more chassis adjustments after noting loose-handling conditions. He came off pit road in seventh.
● Another caution was called with 43 laps to go. Almirola opted not to pit with 19 laps on his tires.
● During the restart, Almirola was involved in an accident and hit the outside wall. He was forced to pit to repair damage and returned to the track two laps down. He retired the No. 10 Smithfield Ford on lap 470 due to unrepairable damage.
Notes:
● Brad Keselowski won the Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 to score his 32nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Clint Bowyer was .471 of a second.
● This was Ford’s series-best fifth win of the season and its 691st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory.
● This was Ford’s 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol. The last Ford driver to win at Bristol was Kurt Busch in August 2018 while a member of SHR.
● There were 17 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.
● Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kevin Harvick remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 24-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.
Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Man. We had such a good car today. We would have had a shot at a top-three finish. That’s Bristol. I felt like I had a tire going down at one point, so we pitted and even came back to the top-10 from that pretty quickly. We had a loose-wheel later and had to pit under caution that put us 10th. We were definitely making our way back towards the front and had a promising finish if we didn’t get caught up there. It looked like the 19 got into me. The car just took off towards the wall and we were done. I hate it for this Smithfield Ford team. We’re flirting on the edge of some really good runs. The good news is we came to Bristol with a setup that can win, so we’ll have confidence coming back.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Harvick Rallies to Finish 11th at Bristol
| ||
|
Buescher Finishes 23rd at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 31, 2020) — After a promising start and another stage point collected with a 10th–place finish in the second stage of Sunday’s 500-lap race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chris Buescher and the No. 17 SUNNYD team’s bid at a strong finish came to a halt when the No. 17 Ford contacted the wall and cut a tire midway through the event, ultimately resulting in a 23rd- place finish.
Buescher rolled off the grid at the .533-mile oval in 19th battling a tight handling condition. The No. 17 team made their first trip down pit road with the competition caution at lap 20 for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. The team had to revisit pit road to switch out a transponder at lap 25 and got back on track for the restart in 25th. Buescher toggled between 25th and 29th until the next competition caution at Lap 60. The SUNNYD team made an air pressure adjustment at the caution and restarted 27th, which is where Buescher took the green-white checkered flag in stage one.
The Prosper, Texas native reported that his Ford was handling tight. After pitting for tires, fuel, grill tape and an air pressure adjustment the team restarted 24th for the second stage at lap 136. Buescher maintained track position, working his way up to 22nd until a caution flag waved at Lap 199. Still reporting a tight handling Ford, Buescher also said his car was improving as the team pitted for an air pressure adjustment along with more tires and fuel. The adjustments at the caution paid off as the team restarted 18th. Strategy played out after a couple more cautions helped Buescher work his way up to 15th. At lap 229, the driver narrowly avoided a huge wreck that red flagged the track for about 12 minutes. The team elected to stay out, restarting 12th with 15 to go in the stage. Another caution flag waved just a few laps later, but Buescher and the No. 17 team stayed out to gain track position. When the green-white checkered flag waved for stage two, the SUNNYD team crossed the line 10th, earning one stage point.
Buescher reported that his No. 17 machine was still handling tight, so the team pitted at the stage break for tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. The driver got to work, restarting 20th, but then hit the wall twice at Lap 265 to bring out the caution. The team pitted twice during the caution to assess the damage and got back on track, 28th and four laps down. Unfortunately, the damage was too much to escape as the No. 17 team finished 23rd, four laps down.
Buescher and the No. 17 team return to action next Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Race coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
Mane ‘n Tail Celebrates Its Golden Year With 50 Years of Blue Horse-Power!
Mane ‘n Tail celebrates its 50th Anniversary with NASCAR premiering its legendary blue & gold paint scheme, highlighting the blue horses.
Tradition with heritage gives the car a dynamic look and a creative spin for the StarCom Racing team, as Quin Houff whips around the track with the “00” car!
Mane ‘n Tail is proud to be a continued StarCom Racing sponsor, participating in several 2020 events, kicking off on May 31 at 3:30PM at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Supermarket Heroes 500 presented by Food City.
Today. Tomorrow. Toyota Racing: Daniel Suárez Alsco Uniforms 500k Race Report from Charlotte
| Suárez Soldiers to 28th Place at Charlotte Today. Tomorrow. Toyota Battles Tight Condition in Alsco Uniforms 500k |
| Date: May 28, 2020 Event: Alsco Uniforms 500k Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) Format: 208 laps, broken into three stages (55 laps/60 laps/93 laps) Start/Finish: 28th / 28th (Running, completed 207 of 208 laps) Point Standing: 31st with 72 points, 259 out of first
Race Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford) Stage 2 Winner: Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-55): ● Started 28th, finished 28th. ● Suárez gained a couple of positions to 26th before the caution flag appeared as the front of the field approached the start-finish line on the opening lap. ● He restarted 25th on lap 9 but dropped back to 30th by the time a competition caution flag appeared on lap 20, reporting that his Today.Tomorrow.Toyota Camry was better over the bumps than it was during Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 but had “no grip.” ● Air pressure adjustments on the right-front and both left-side tires was the call from crew chief Dave Winston when Suárez pitted from 30th on lap 22. ● He restarted 32nd on lap 24 and again made forward progress, climbing to 25th on the opening lap of the run, then up to 23rd before dropping to 24th by the time the caution flag appeared for another accident on lap 29. Suárez said the grip issues continued and the car felt much different than it did Sunday night. ● One lap into the caution, lightning in the area forced officials to red-flag the race with 30 laps complete. Engines were refired one hour, 14 minutes later after lightning holds had expired and track drying was complete. Suárez pitted on lap 31 for tires, fuel, and a pressure adjustment in the right-rear tire. ● The race restarted on lap 34 with Suárez in 24th place, and he dropped four positions by the time the caution flag flew to end the stage. He said his Toyota Camry started out a little free but it came to him after about seven laps. He said he was still lacking grip, but the car felt much, much more comfortable through the bumps in turns three and four than it did Sunday night. ● Suárez pitted on lap 58 during the stage break caution for four tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment and rejoined 26th.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 56-115): ● Started 26th, finished 28th. ● Suárez grabbed a couple of position to 24th on the opening lap of the stage, but then dropped back to his original position of 26th, where he held his ground until the caution flag appeared on lap 72 for another single-car accident. He reported that the splitter of his Today.Tomorrow.Toyota Camry was beginning to make contact with the bumps in turns three and four. ● He stayed on track during that caution period and restarted 13th when the green flag flew on lap 78. Over the next five laps, he dropped back to 29th as most of the field behind him benefited from fresher tires. ● Suárez picked up one position shortly thereafter and held onto it all the way to the stage break. He reported his Toyota Camry was loose on entry and still contacting the bumps. Winston called for tires, fuel and slight pressure adjustments to alleviate the two problem areas.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 116-208): ● Started 22nd, finished 28th. ● This run started with Suárez’s Today. Tomorrow. Toyota Camry good in turns one and two but too tight in turns three and four. He dropped back to 29th by lap 130. ● Suárez picked up one position shortly thereafter and held onto 28th until the caution flag appeared on lap 143. He said his Toyota was getting “way to tight” in turns three and four as the run progressed. Track bar and pressure adjustments in the right-front tire came on the pit stop during the caution. ● He rejoined in 25th after that stop but had to come down pit road one more time before the restart to add a missing lug nut. He restarted 27th on lap 148. ● Suárez held that relative position through the rest of the final stage, which stayed green all the way to the checkered flag. He dropped one position in the closing laps and crossed the finish line 28th, one lap down.
Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 96 Today. Tomorrow. Toyota Camry for Gaunt Brothers Racing: “You know, another 28th – I’m getting a little tired of those 28ths. But we have to keep working. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed about this one because I thought we were going to bring a better car than last Sunday. We made adjustments hoping for that, but obviously it didn’t work out for us. I know what I signed up for and I trust in this team and I trust everyone involved – Toyota, Coca-Cola and CommScope, everyone who is making this happen. We have to keep pushing and the results will come. I really want to thank everyone for the amazing support. Let’s see what we can do Sunday in Bristol.”
Race Notes: ● Chase Elliott won the Alsco Uniforms 500k to score his seventh career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Charlotte’s oval. His margin of victory over second-place Denny Hamlin was 2.208 seconds. ● There were seven caution periods for a total of 37 laps. ● Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the Alsco Uniforms 500k finished on the lead lap. ● Harvick remains the championship leader after Charlotte with a 14-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.
Next Up: The next NASCAR Cup Series event for Suárez and the Gaunt Brothers Racing team is the Supermarket Heroes 500 on Sunday, May 31 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. |