Daniel Suarez had a terrible race in Bristol this weekend. He started from 35th place and struggled to break through the field in a substandard Chevrolet Camaro. As he struggled outside the top 30, Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones attempted to make things worse on Lap 363 by making hard contact in a move to squeeze ahead.
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The Mexican-American driver was heard expressing his frustration on the radio at the moment but clarified that he wasn’t angry during his post-race interview. He agreed that it was “just tight racing” and added, “He was trying to squeeze in the middle. I was there, we just got in contact and then he brake-checked me.” He was rather fortunate that the crash did not take him out.
Jones finished the race in 30th place. But it is Suarez’s result that is rightly under the spotlight. He brought his car through the finishing line in 31st place, four laps down. Despite the blasphemous result, he wasn’t disappointed or downtrodden mainly because he made it into the Round of 12 regardless. He went into the race 36 points above the elimination line and remained 12 points above it.
A runner-up finish in Atlanta and an average race in Watkins Glen are what helped him build the cushion up. Furthermore, the misfortunes of drivers like Martin Truex Jr. made things a lot easier for him as he held off Ty Gibbs in the final laps. He can breathe a sigh of relief for now. The points will be reset going to the Round of 12 and he will be under high pressure once again. He might not get as lucky next time.
How Suarez won the battle against Ty Gibbs in Bristol
The No. 99 Trackhouse Racing team struggled with its car right from the practice session. They knew that they wouldn’t be able to get to the next round of speed. So, they crafted a different strategy that could make things work. For the final quarter of the 500 laps, Suarez had one goal: Keep Gibbs behind him.
Gibbs was in a good position to eliminate Suarez as he approached the top 10 spots, but the latter made it his job to not let him move ahead. His defenses ended up working as other lead lap cars sped past the No. 54 driver. Suarez said, “At one point there, I felt bad for the 54 [Gibbs] because I had to hold him back quite a bit and he got passed, but I had to do that.
“I wasn’t fast enough to run away from him, so I had to play games to be able to affect him as much as possible in a clean way.” Gibbs finished the race in 15th place and fell short of making it past the elimination line.
