Experience at the Tricky Triangle

Once again Daniel Suarez found him handling double duty.  In Xfinity, his practice speeds put him 10th and 4th.  In qualifying, he was 12th in the first round, then 7th in the second and final round to determine his starting position.

When the Xfinity race got underway, he shot forward, up to 3rd on the first lap.  He maintained a spot in the top six throughout stage 1, finishing in 5th place.  He sang the same song in stage 2, until 3 laps before the end of the stage.  His team opted to bring him down pit road, so he finished the stage in 22nd.  But because he had recently pitted, he did not have to pit during the stage-break caution, allowing him to restart in 4th place.

Just like he did at the beginning of the race, he gained on the cars ahead of him.  Ten laps later, he took the lead.  Then it was time for a green-flag pit stop.  He came back out onto the track in 13th place.  But NASCAR caught him speeding on pit road, and the resulting pass-through penalty put him back in 28th on lap 70.

He picked his way forward one position at a time.  A caution just 7 laps later allowed him to stay out, restarting 10th.  He never fell out of the top ten again.  Over the remaining 16 laps he gained 5 more positions, eventually bringing his car home in 5th place.

 

In Cup, his car was not showing the same amount of speed.  He was only 26th fastest in both practice sessions.  In qualifying, he was 21st in the first round, then 14th to determine his starting spot.

Once Sunday's race got started, he moved forward a little at a time.  By lap 5 he was in the top ten.  He was able to maintain a spot in the top 12 until his green-flag pit stop on lap 19.  By the time the field cycled through their green-flag pit stops, he found himself in 13th place.  Stage 1 ended 8 laps later with his #19 ARRIS Toyota in 15th place.

He started stage 2 in 16th place.  Not counting cycling through green-flag pit stops, Daniel ran between 14th and 21st place.  He was in 19th place when the race was red flagged for cleanup following two separate incidents, which is where he finished stage 2.

Because he pitted just 4 laps before the red flag, he was able to stay out during the stage-break caution.  That allowed him to restarted 7th on lap 105, but he could not hold that position.  He fell back to 15th before his green-flag pit stop on lap 123.  After they cycled through, he was up to 14th place.  The last caution flag flew on lap 141 out of 160.  When the race resumed with 13 laps to go, he was on 19th place.  He was able to advance to 15th before the race ended.

He earned 22 points, bringing his total in the drivers' standings up to 300 and continuing to hold in the 19th place.  He finished 12 spots behind Erik Jones, so he lost ground to his key challenger in the rookie competition, now 22 points behind him.  But he finished 3 spots ahead of Ty Dillon, increasing his lead over him to 53 points.

And on the separate rookie standings, here are the current numbers:

• Daniel Suarez -- 157
• Erik Jones -- 149
• Ty Dillon -- 135
• Corey LaJoie -- 106
• Gray Gaulding -- 101

During post race inspection, it was noted that Daniel's car had a missing lug nut.  His crew chief, Scott Graves, was fined $10,000.

Next week NASCAR rolls into Michigan International Speedway, which is where Daniel won his first race last year to kick start his run to the Xfinity championship.  To get primed for next weekend, take a look at this clip:

Daniel Suarez bests Kyle Busch for XFINITY Series win at Michigan