DOVER, Del. — A late-race strategy call to stay out on older tires netted Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing their second top-10 finish of the NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday.
Suarez finished ninth in the Drydene 400 at Dover Int’l Speedway after crew chief Travis Mack kept him on track during the final round of pit stops among the frontrunners at the one-mile concrete oval.
The native of Monterrey, Mexico, had previously pitted with the leaders during the fifth caution of the day on lap 304, when a mechanical issue sent Aric Almirola’s Ford Musting into the turn-four wall.
That allowed Suarez the flexibility to opt for track position during the lap-314 yellow where Anthony Alfredo spun off the exit of turn two following near-contact with the Chevrolet of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
From there, Suarez held his own, despite several drivers around him who utilized fresher rubber to move forward over a 70-lap green flag run to the finish.
Suarez restarted seventh when racing resumed for the final time at lap 331. While Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick overhauled Suarez with new tires, the 29-year-old kept the likes of Cole Custer and Bubba Wallace at bay in the closing laps.
Sunday’s ninth-place run was Suarez’s best Cup Series finish on a non-dirt surface since the playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway in November of 2019, when he ran third and led 25 laps for Stewart-Haas Racing.
“The No. 99 CommScope Chevy Camaro was strong. Most of the race I felt like the entire race we were probably a top-15 car, but with good adjustments we gained some track position and that gave us the opportunity to finish in the top 10,” said Suarez of his 34th career top-10 finish in the Cup Series. “There is still a lot of work to do, definitely. Right there at the end, I was tight. I was against the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin), the No. 41 (Custer) and all these guys, but we were able to hold them off and get a decent finish.
“We have to keep working and win a trophy though. The work doesn’t stop here.”
Suarez finished fourth earlier this season at the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway dirt race, and on that day, it looked as though he could finally break through and capture his first Cup Series victory.
Though that didn’t happen at Dover, Suarez advanced to 22nd in points and leaves the First State 52 points behind the playoff cut line through 13 of 26 races in the regular season.
“We have to work hard and keep pushing,” he said. “We’re making progress, but we have to take these runs and keep getting better as a team.”
Suarez and the rest of the Cup Series field will return to action May 23 at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, the inaugural trip to the 20-turn permanent road course for NASCAR’s premier series.
Though Suarez has never won on a road course in NASCAR national series competition, he does have a road course win in NASCAR Peak Mexico Series competition, which came on June 30, 2013 at the 2.1-mile Autodromo de Monterrey in his hometown.