Racing in Richmond

Richmond was another double duty (and double experience) weekend for Daniel Suarez.  In the two Xfinity practices, his #18 Juniper Toyota posted the 16th and 19th fastest times.  Qualifying showed progress, though, as his spots in the three rounds were 14th, 5th, and 3rd.

And once the race got started, he wheeled his car up to 2nd on the first lap.  But that only lasted for a few laps.  He struggled with the handling of a tight car, falling back to 5th by lap 35 and 8th by lap 46.  He did regain one position before the end of stage 1, claiming the 7th spot.  In stage 2, he struggled instead with a loose racecar, running as far back as 10th and as far forward as 7th.  He ended the stage in 7th.  Stage 3 was more of the same, running between 7th and 9th.  Until he got hit from behind, sliding into the outside wall and out of the race.  He finished in 21st place.

Daniel was not tearing up practice sessions in Cup, either.  He finished the three practice sessions in 18th, 28th, and 12th.  His ten-lap averages ranged between 19th and 21st.  Qualifying started with a 23rd fastest time in the first round, but the second and third rounds ended with a more promising 11th place each time.  That good starting spot also allowed the team to get one of the better spots on pit road, selecting pit stall 16, just ahead of a break, allowing for an easy drive in.

As the race prepared to get underway, Daniel actually moved up because one of the drivers ahead of him had to fall to the back.  So as the green flag dropped for the first time, he crossed the start/finish line in 9th place.  And within 2 laps, he was up to 8th.  But after a quick caution the field restarted on lap 18, and he began to slide back.  By lap 25 he was in 15th place. and by lap 50 he was in 32nd.  As he continued to struggle with the handling of his car, he started getting caught and lapped by the leaders.  He finished stage 1 in 32nd place 1 lap down and stage 2 in 30th place 2 laps down.  He would eventually go a total of 3 laps down.

But the increasing number of cautions during the second half of the race gave his team the opportunity to alternate between pitting to adjust the car and staying out to gain back laps.  And then on a caution on lap 366 he got the lucky dog, which permitted him to get back onto the lead lap AND pit for tires, fuel, and adjustments.  When the race resumed he was in 28th but at the tail end of the field.  He did advance 3 spots in 11 laps before the caution flag flew again.  His crew gave him four fresh tires and fuel and sent him out to line up in 22nd place with the lead lap cars.

When the race resumed with only 22 laps remaining, Daniel started to do what we saw him do in Phoenix and Fontana.  After only 7 laps he was inside the top 20.  Another 12 laps, and he poked the nose of his ARRIS Camry into the top 15.  When the checkered flag flew, he crossed the start/finish line in 12th, only one spot back from where he first lined up at the start of the race.

His Richmond run earned him 25 points, bringing his total up to 169.  He remains 22nd in the drivers' standings.  He was the best finishing rookie, cutting in half his deficit to Erik Jones, who is now only 24 points ahead of Daniel.  And he moved away from Ty Dillon, positioning himself 12 points ahead of him.