Although Ross Chastain finished the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona in 15th after rolling off 19th, his teammate Daniel Suárez stormed to a runner-up finish from 12th. It wasn’t enough to secure a playoff seat for Suárez, but Chastain lauded his teammate’s efforts.
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Chastain felt his No. 1 team gave him a car strong enough to run clean all night. He placed second in Stage 1 behind Kyle Larson before winning Stage 2. But fortunes flipped in the final segment when pit strategy went against him.
Despite this, Chastain said afterward, “We had a really good No. 1 SafetyCulture Chevrolet tonight. I didn’t ask for an adjustment all night, and I wouldn’t ask for anything different for another 400 miles.”
He noted that the speedway package leaves little room to maneuver, but his team has found a strong setup. Listening to Shane van Gisbergen describe some issues, Chastain admitted he had battled those exact problems in previous races but hoped the No. 88 team can steer their car closer to his direction.
Chastain also praised Suárez’s drive, saying he was thrilled that two Trackhouse drivers are playoff-bound, though he would have loved to see all three make it through.
“I’m proud of the effort by Daniel (Suarez) and the No. 99 team. He kept his cool tonight. I tried to push him at times; it didn’t work out, and he made it up there on his own, there at the end, and gave himself a shot. It would be better with three, but we’re definitely proud of the effort tonight. We still have three cars going to compete for wins.”
With two laps to go, Suárez sat 19th but latched onto Ryan Blaney’s charge through the pack. On the final run to the line, the No. 99 rode the far outside of a four-wide battle, ultimately finishing just 0.031 seconds behind Blaney in a photo finish.
Suárez, though disappointed, vowed that his 2025 season is far from over and struck an optimistic tone about returning to victory lane soon, earning the respect of many fans for his fighting spirit.
