WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – The summer of 2025 has been all over the map for Daniel Suarez. He experienced the emotional high of winning in his homeland of Mexico, only for Trackhouse Racing to announce a couple of weeks later that the two sides are parting ways at the conclusion of the season.
On the Cup Series side, Suarez’s No. 99 team has been amiss for several weeks. Prior to Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, Suarez hadn’t finished inside the top 10 in the previous 12 races, dating back to Texas Motor Speedway in early May.
Matt Swiderski, crew chief of the No. 99 Chevrolet, called a three pit-stop strategy, being among the first cars to pit on Lap 15. He finished 23rd in the opening stage and gained 10 spots throughout the second stage to maneuver to 13th.
In a caution-free final stage, Suarez pitted for the last time on Lap 57. By taking fresher tires a few laps later than the bulk of the field, the No. 99 car used that to its advantage. At the checkered flag, he jumped to seventh, nearing the top five.
The seventh-place finish is Suarez’s best finish since finishing runner-up to Josh Berry at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fifth race of the 2025 season.
“It feels nice,” Suarez said of the strong showing at Watkins Glen. “In the last couple of months, I’ve felt like we’ve had top-10 speed but we haven’t been able to execute. Today, we were able to execute a decent race. The guys did a great job. The car was pretty good.; I don’t know if it was good enough to win, but good enough to run in the top 10.”
Suarez gained two spots in the regular-season championship battle to 29th. It was his fourth top-10 finish of the season, more than the likes of Berry (three) and the same amount as Austin Cindric (both are drivers who are locked into the postseason via a win).
Suarez, who believes in the strength of momentum, thinks it’s still possible that he can steal a playoff spot by winning one of the final two regular season races at Richmond Raceway and Daytona International Speedway. In 15 Richmond starts, he has a quartet of top 10s, with a best finish of seventh (2017). With all the chips on the line at Daytona, it’s always an unpredictable race with Austin Dillon and Harrison Burton previously winning their way into the playoffs via a late summer triumph. In 16 Daytona attempts, he has 11 DNFs with an average finish of 26.8.
“If we have cars and execution like today, why not?” Suarez said about whether he can play spoiler. “All it takes is to be in the top 10, top five to be able to hit one of these things off.”
The primary emphasis for Suarez is tasting Victory Lane one more time with Trackhouse Racing. It’s the organization that he helped build off the ground in 2021 and became one of the key partner teams with Chevrolet.
“For me, the playoffs are important, but the most important thing to me is win,” Suarez added. “I don’t care if it’s before the playoffs or after the playoffs, I just want to win and end my cycle with Trackhouse on a high.”
Trackhouse had a historic race on Sunday, putting all three of its entries inside the top 10 for the first time in team history. Shane van Gisbergen dominated, cruising to an 11.1-second win over Christopher Bell. Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10.