Another Cup Series race at the reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway, another authoritative performance from Daniel Suarez. The 1.5-mile, edge-of-your-seat race, has turned into one of Suarez’s best stops on the NASCAR schedule.
While glancing at Suarez’s overall statistics on superspeedways, it leaves plenty to be desired. In 15 starts at Daytona International Speedway, the Mexico native has 11 DNFs. With four top-10 finishes at Talladega Superspeedway, his numbers are slightly better. But ever since Speedway Motorsports Inc. turned AMS into a hybrid superspeedway that requires tactical thinking and drafting, Suarez has been elite.
Suarez entered Atlanta as the track’s most recent winner, scoring the victory by .003 seconds over Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch — at the time was tied for the closest finish in NASCAR history — in a three-wide finish in February. The success even predated that 400-mile spectacle, as Suarez scored four top-10 finishes in the first five Atlanta starts.
The intensity ramped up even more this weekend, with Atlanta hosting the playoff opener for the first time in 21 years of the postseason. Suarez had a lackluster qualifying run on Saturday, beginning the Quaker State 400 in 30th position. For much of the opening stage, the No. 99 Chevrolet hung out towards the rear, though he made a hard charge to 15th at the end of the stage.
During Stage 2, Suarez became a player at the front of the field. While Austin Cindric controlled the lead during the stage, Suarez earned seven stage points by finishing fourth.
It wouldn’t be the playoffs without overcoming adversity, however. Contact with Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick on pit road forced the Matt Swiderski-led team to make an additional trip to assess the damage. Suarez was a missile getting his track position back and was in contention for the lead.
Late in the race, Suarez traded the lead back and forth with Ty Gibbs and Logano. When Harrison Burton turned Noah Gragson to set up an overtime finish, Logano was scored as the leader and chose the bottom lane for the restart. Suarez picked the top of the first row with his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain in tow.
With a shove from Chastain, the No. 99 had a superb restart, keeping up with one of the series’ best on restarts in Logano. But the Trackhouse duo came disengaged during the overtime restart, allowing Logano to hang on to the lead. Suarez was scored in second at the time of caution during a last-lap wreck.
“I was pretty confident that the top was going to be better over [Logano], and [Chastain] was going to be able to push me, like the [No.] 1 did on that last restart being on the outside,” Suarez told NBC Sports of the final restart. “We got a great launch, but we got disconnected and that hurt us.
“It’s a little painful. We were in position and sometimes it’s very difficult to predict who is going to get the best push and for how long you’re going to get it. We were in contention; the team did an amazing job. We’re happy with it, but not satisfied.”
Unofficially, Suarez jumped to ninth on the playoff grid, earning 42 points, the fifth most of all drivers. That doesn’t help lessen the blow of not being the first driver to advance out of the Round of 16.
“It was a very good day,” Suarez said, “but every time you get second and are that close and feel like you were in position to win and you didn’t win, it doesn’t matter if you got a good points day or not. I don’t feel really good right now, but it’s part of it.”
The second race in the Round of 16 will be contested at Watkins Glen International, where Suarez has three top-five finishes in six starts.