Sunday, September 3, 2017

Darlington Tamed Daniel

After a weekend off, Daniel Suarez rolled into Darlington for his first Cup experience at the Track Too Tough to Tame.  His car did not show great speed right off the truck, though, with practice speeds that ranked 19th and 10th.  Then, in qualifying, he was 22nd in the first round and just barely advanced to the second round.  He did a bit better with 19th place but not close to what he needed to move on to the third and final round.



Once the race got underway, he spent most of the first stage running near his starting position.  He fell back to 22nd by lap 4.  His stellar pit crew gained him a few spots on pit road during the first caution of the night.  During the second caution he slid through his pit box and had to back up.  As a result he lost a few spots, back to 22nd again.  But then he started picking his way through the field.  By the time stage 1 came to an end, he was running in 16th.

His pit crew got him a couple more spots during the stage break caution, so he restarted in 14th.  His car seemed to be coming to him, as he gained a position or two over the next 7 laps.  And then Darlington bit him.  On lap 124 he blew his right front tire, sending him into the outside wall, doing so much damage to the car that he was unable to continue  He would end his evening with a 38th place finish.

He earned 1 point, bringing his total up to 538 points, still sitting in 17th place in the drivers' standings.  He finished 33 spots behind Erik Jones, earning 36 fewer points, now 73 total points behind him.  And he finished 25 spots behind Ty Dillon, earning 23 fewer points, but is still ahead of him by 119 points.

Here are the separate rookie standings:
  • Erik Jones --238
  • Daniel Suarez -- 226
  • Ty Dillon -- 177
  • Corey LaJoie -- 151
  • Gray Gaulding -- 137

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