Daniel Suarez reiterated Saturday he doesn’t want his Atlanta Motor Speedway victory to be the only highlight of the season. Suarez is looking at a return to the NASCAR postseason for the first time since 2022, courtesy of being the first to the …
Daniel Suarez reiterated Saturday he doesn’t want his Atlanta Motor Speedway victory to be the only highlight of the season.
Suarez is looking at a return to the NASCAR postseason for the first time since 2022, courtesy of being the first to the finish line in a three-wide photo finish last weekend. But the Trackhouse Racing driver isn’t looking that far ahead.
“We have a long way [to go] before the playoffs,” Suarez said at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “In my mind, I don’t want to be one of those drivers that wins one race to get into the playoffs and that’s it. I don’t want to be part of that. The goal here is to do more than that, to be strong in the regular season championship.
“I know that to be able to contend for the championship, you have to win three or more races and that’s the goal. The goal is to build a strong season where we have stage points, where we have wins, so that when we get into the playoffs, it’s not just, ‘Oh, we made the playoffs,’ but in a strong fashion. That’s the goal and we’re working hard, everyone at Trackhouse Racing, to be able to deliver that.”
He scored his first career win at Sonoma in 2022 in his sixth full season as a Cup Series driver. It was his only victory that season. Last year, he went winless and failed to make the postseason, and Atlanta marks his second career win.
Suarez has seen that winning multiple races is the key to success. Ross Chastain, his Trackhouse teammate, won two races in 2022 and competed for the championship. Chastain won twice last year and finished in the top 10 in points again.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
By winning early in the season, Suarez admitted his No. 99 team may now be able to find more ways to earn points. Unless there are more than 16 different winners, he has a guaranteed playoff spot through his win, so focusing on stage points and playoff points for his seeding can become more of a priority.
“I had a meeting with Squid (Matt Swiderski), my crew chief, about it,” Suarez said. “It definitely gives us a lot more freedom. We want to gamble wisely; you don’t want to do just wild gambles and hope for the best, like a stage running long and hoping for things to just fall in your lap. But you can gamble a little bit in the setup. You can gamble a little bit on the strategy. You can push the limits a little bit harder in a few areas. I think it’s a very good thing.
“With that being said, it’s also very important to continue to be consistent, to continue to be strong, and to have in mind that yeah, we’re in the playoffs, but in my mind, one win won’t do it to be able to get to Phoenix to fight for a championship. You have to really build your resume over the year, and we have to continue to do that.”
Suarez finished a career-best 10th in the championship standings when he made the playoffs in 2022. Saturday, he qualified 16th at the first intermediate racetrack of the season.
“I think, honestly, this weekend for us is going to be a very, very important weekend,” Suarez said. “For everyone, because we have a lot of mile-and-a-half [tracks], and this is the first one with this package, and we have to see where we stack up and where we’re strong and where are the areas that we aren’t very strong that we have to work on. We’re going to find out a lot of things today and tomorrow, and I’m very excited for that.”
It was a race of remarkable ebb and flow. It was race of breathtaking four-wide action into corners not built to accommodate such derring-do. And it was totally appropriate that Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor …
It was a race of remarkable ebb and flow.
It was race of breathtaking four-wide action into corners not built to accommodate such derring-do.
And it was totally appropriate that Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway would end in a three-wide photo finish, with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez eking out a victory over Ryan Blaney by what looked to be an inch or two at the finish line.
NASCAR timing and scoring showed Suarez ahead of Blaney by 0.003s at the stripe, with Kyle Busch in third, 0.007s behind the race winner.
As the three drivers sped through the final two corners, Suarez held the outside lane with Blaney on the bottom and Busch in the middle. Suarez surged forward approaching the finish line to earn his second career victory—and his first since June of 2022 at Sonoma—by the thinnest of margins.
Taking another look at the three-wide finish between Daniel Suárez, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney at Atlanta:
Suarez, whose No. 99 Trackhouse Race Chevrolet suffered damage to the hood on a lap two crash in Turn 1, had the lead for a restart with five laps left, after the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Josh Berry collided with Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on lap 249 of 260 to cause the 10th and final caution of the race.
Blaney, the defending series champion, grabbed the top spot almost immediately and held it for four laps, but Suarez and Busch mounted runs on the final lap on in the top and middle lanes, respectively. Blaney chose to make his bid for victory from the bottom lane and fell just short.
“It was so close, man,” said Suarez, still marveling that he was the winner. “It was so close. It was good racing. Ryan Blaney there, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric also was doing a great job giving pushes. In the back straightaway he didn’t push me because he knew I was going to [screw] his teammate, but man, what a job.
“We wrecked [on] lap two. The guys did an amazing job fixing this car. I can’t thank everyone enough, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, all the amazing fans here. Let’s go!”
Blaney held the bottom line…but it wasn’t quite enough. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images
As the final lap unfolded, Blaney was shocked at the force of the runs challenging him.
“I thought I laid back enough in [Turns] 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run,” Blaney said. “I did that like the three laps before the end, and I was able to manage it kind of fairly well, and they just got both lanes shoving super hard. I just chose the bottom, and it was the safest place to be.
“What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that, race clean, three-wide finish to the end. Happy for Daniel. That was cool to see. Fun racing with Kyle. I can’t complain; I’ve won them by very, very little, too, so I can’t complain too much when I lose them by that much.”
To Busch, the outcome was predictable, given the positions of the cars in the final two corners.
“Yeah, typically whoever is behind getting into [Turn] 3 prevails at the start-finish line with the side draft and everything, so I was… I think I was second to the No. 12 (Blaney) right there, and the No. 99 was the furthest back, and he made the ground back up with the side draft and stuff…
“It’s good to see Daniel get a win. We were helping each other, being Chevy team partners and working together there. Shows that when you do have friends and you can make alliances that they do seem to work, and that was a good part of today.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
The start of the race was a harbinger of the wild finish.
Moments after crossing the finish line to complete the first lap of the race, Todd Gilliland checked up near the front of the field and stacked up the cars behind him. All told, 16 cars were involved, a track record for a single incident at the 1.54-mile speedway.
The machines of Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson all sustained heavy damage. Austin Dillon and Harrison Burton, early victims in last Monday’s DAYTONA 500, both were part of the melee.
Burton was able to continue, as was Suarez, who made multiple pit stops as his crew worked to repair has car. Dillon lost two laps on pit road but regained them as the beneficiary under the third and fourth cautions.
If the lap two wreck was an impediment for nearly half the field, the first attempt at green-flag pit stops in Stage 2 was equally discomfiting. Pole winner Michael McDowell locked his brakes near the pit road entrance in Turn 3 and collided with DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron, costing both drivers a lap.
Speeding penalties impeded Busch, Berry, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace, with Erik Jones’ crew drawing a penalty for a runaway tire. Like McDowell and Byron, those drivers all found themselves a lap down after their respective pass-throughs under green.
Through subsequent cautions, however, they regained the lead lap, and Busch raced his way into contention for the win.
Cindric finished fourth, followed by Wallace, Stenhouse, Chastain, McDowell and Chris Buescher, all of whom made commendable recoveries to earn top-10 results.
The race featured a record 48 lead changes among 14 drivers — the fifth straight race at Atlanta with more than a dozen leaders. Gilliland led a race-high 58 laps, a team record for a single race by a Front Row Motorsports driver. Cindric was out front for 32 laps, followed by Blaney (31) and Busch (28).
Suarez led twice for nine laps.
Joey Logano, the defending race winner, received unwelcome news before the start of the race. The driver of the No. 22 Ford was deemed to have violated NASCAR rule 14.3.1.1 governing driver protective clothing and equipment.
Logano’s left driving glove featured webbing between the thumb and forefinger, an unauthorized modification of SFI-approved equipment. Under an at-track penalty, Logano dropped from the second position to the rear of the field for the start and began to serve a pit-road pass-through when the pileup in Turn 1 on lap two slowed the field.
The misery of others was serendipity for Logano, who completed his pass-through without losing a lap. By the end of Stage 1 he was 12th, and after the top 10 pitted during the stage break, Logano was second when Stage 2 went green.
On lap 99, Logano passed Gilliland for the lead as part of a pack of six Fords at the front of the field. On the final lap the stage, however, Logano’s fortunes soured once again when his No. 22 Mustang pushed up the track on the backstretch and collected Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin.
Towed to his pit stall, Logano lost eight laps and any hope he might have had of defending his 2023 victory.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 3 at 3:30pm ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Daniel Suarez wins a breathtaking NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway! Check out the full results and race recap from Atlanta!
Welcome back, NASCAR. The Cup Series arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway following the 2024 Daytona 500 and didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was so chaotic that only a handful of drivers weren’t involved in an accident. By the night’s end, [autotag]Daniel Suarez[/autotag] won in breathtaking fashion over Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish.
It was one of the craziest finishes in recent memory that saw Suarez beat Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Busch by 0.007 seconds. The driver of the No. 99 car was winless and missed the playoffs in 2023 but clinched a postseason spot, barring more than 16 winners. After having strong cars all day, it was a gut-wrenching end for Blaney and Busch.
3-WIDE AT THE LINE! WHAT A FINISH. Repost to congratulate Daniel Suárez on his Atlanta Motor Speedway WIN! pic.twitter.com/RdewRqJiwg
NASCAR may not want superspeedway racing every week, but it sure put on a show at Atlanta. Suarez benefits from such scheduling and now starts the 2024 season on the right note. Next week, the Cup Series travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where no pack racing will occur.
Daniel Suarez and Wendy’s will join SS-Greenlight Racing for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
[autotag]Daniel Suarez'[/autotag]s plans for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway have been revealed. On Thursday afternoon, Suarez and Wendy’s revealed that they will compete with [autotag]SS-Greenlight Racing[/autotag] in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona. Suarez will drive the No. 14 Xfinity car as SS-Greenlight Racing partners with Kaulig Racing.
According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, it is primarily a Kaulig Racing effort with a deal to field the NASCAR Cup Series driver through SS-Greenlight Racing. In 2024, SS-Greenlight Racing will run the No. 14 car full-time, switching from its longtime No. 08 car. It is unknown who else will drive the No. 14 car during the 2024 NASCAR season.
The look of Daniel Suarez car for Xfinity race at Daytona. It is mostly a Kaulig effort with a deal to field it through SS Greenlight so they have some points (of the 08) if it rains. (Past champs have to earn series points to use a spot available for them). pic.twitter.com/ks7L7ZiqxM
The No. 14 Wendy’s Chevrolet is very sharp with a blue base, including red, and a logo on the hood. Suarez will have owner points to lean back on in case of weather that cancels qualifying. Overall, this unique partnership will see Suarez compete at a high level in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona. It only adds to an already stacked field for the 2024 season.
Daniel Suarez had a down year with Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Here, you can check out Suarez’s 2023 season in review!
[autotag]Daniel Suarez[/autotag] won his first career Cup Series race in 2022 but failed to follow it up during the 2023 NASCAR season. Suarez finished the year with three top-5 finishes and 10 top-10 finishes. Unfortunately for the driver of the No. 99 car, he failed to make the playoffs and finished 18th in the point standings following a poor 11-race stretch.
Suarez earned his first top-5 finish of the year at Auto Club Speedway and only compiled two more top-5 finishes over the next 34 events. He didn’t have the speed and consistency in 2023. Suarez closed out the campaign with 48 laps led (24th-best) and a 19.0 average finishing position (20th-best); however, where did it all go wrong for him?
The Trackhouse Racing driver only had four top-15 finishes in the last 11 races and a best finish of 11th place in the last five events. Suarez struggled to compete, and while he did have some fast cars over the year, he could not put it all together at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis Road Course, most notably.
Overall, Suarez needs a massive 2024 NASCAR season, with Zane Smith and Shane van Gisbergen looking for a ride with Trackhouse Racing. The driver of the No. 99 car has proven that he can win races at NASCAR’s top level, but he needs to produce sooner rather than later. If not, Suarez could be the one on the outside looking for a ride.
It’s easy to look at Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale as having one very simple storyline – the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway will finalize the 16-driver postseason field. All but one spot has already …
It’s easy to look at Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale as having one very simple storyline — the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway will finalize the 16-driver postseason field.
All but one spot has already been clinched, with Bubba Wallace currently on the bubble, 400 miles away from his first appearance in the postseason.
Seems simple, but Saturday night has the makings to be much more complicated. The way that last playoff berth is determined will be critical, as will the knock-on effects through the field.
Let’s break down what to watch Saturday night on the high banks of Daytona.
Bubble battle
Wallace doesn’t have to win Saturday night, but he’s approaching the race like he needs to — it’s the safest way to ensure he makes the playoffs. Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez are the only drivers who are still mathematically in the hunt to overtake Wallace on points and a 32-point gap can easily dwindle or completely disappear in the first two stages.
These three drivers don’t want to points race, which isn’t easy to do at Daytona, anyway. Wallace is one of the top superspeedway drivers in the series and as long as he continues his “Saturday night could turn into a must-win” approach, expect to see him run aggressively.
Gibbs and Suarez have no choice but to run as hard as they can all night. There is no guarantee they will overtake Wallace on points without the 23XI driver getting into trouble, so going out and positioning themselves to challenge for the win is the agenda.
A new winner
The hopes of Wallace, Gibbs, and Suarez can easily go up in flames if someone behind them wins. There are 14 other drivers who can win their way into the playoffs.
AJ Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley are all fighting like their lives depend on it. Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola, and Chase Briscoe — all from the Stewart-Haas Racing — would love for something to go their way this season.
Corey LaJoie, Erik Jones, and Austin Dillon have no problem playing spoiler. Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, and Ty Dillon would love to just be in the conversation.
Teamwork
Alliances are nothing new at superspeedways, but Saturday night has the makings of taking that concept to the extreme. Consider the drivers who are locked into the playoffs that have teammates on the outside looking in, and how pushing a teammate is what is going to be best for business.
Ross Chastain will be the wingman for Suarez. Kyle Busch could do the same for Austin Dillon. Team Penske has Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney locked in the playoffs, but not Cindric.
Hendrick Motorsports is in a terrible position with two drivers locked in, two on the outside and only one spot available. Not since 2016 has Hendrick only had two cars in the postseason. How will the drafting partners shake out between William Byron, Kyle Larson, Bowman and Elliott?
Denny Hamlin might be in the most complicated situation of all. He owns Wallace’s car, but he’s teammates with Gibbs. Don’t spend too much time wondering who Hamlin is going to push because he’s already admitted it’s going to be Wallace and Joe Gibbs Racing needs to understand that. Time will tell if Gibbs does, though.
Blocking and taking one for the team isn’t at all unlikely either. Tyler Reddick admitted he wasn’t going to pass Austin Dillon a year ago in this race when they were both at Richard Childress Racing. Reddick played blocker for Dillon in the final laps, which helped Dillon go to victory lane and take a playoff spot.
Will Reddick do the same again, this time for Wallace?
The danger of being the teammate who falls in line, however, is giving up your own points that might be needed down the road. It’s also giving up an opportunity to win, which is hard enough in the Cup Series — and more than that, it would be giving up a win at Daytona.
Trophy hunting
Oh, by the way, the regular-season championship will be decided Saturday night. Yes, that’s important because the driver who wins it gets 15 playoff points and, as we’ve seen over the years, those points are priceless.
Martin Truex Jr. leads Hamlin by 39 points. Truex will clinch it with 22 points, while Hamlin — who will also have an eye on Wallace — as previously mentioned, needs help to overtake his teammate.
No. 1 seed
Truex and Hamlin are battling for the regular-season championship and yet someone else could potentially be the No. 1 seed when the top 10 drivers are re-racked. As a reminder, drivers in the top 10 all receive extra playoff points – 15 for first, 10 for second, eight for third and so on.
William Byron, third in the championship standings, leads the series in wins and playoff points (28) going into Saturday night. As things currently stand, Byron is the No. 1 seed and would remain there if nothing changes through Daytona.
Truex has 20 points going into Saturday night, and the additional 15 points — should he win the regular-season championship — would only give him a total of 35 to start the playoffs. To become the No. 1 seed, Truex needs to win the regular-season championship and both stages (two playoff points) at Daytona to get the edge over Byron.
But wait, it can get even more interesting…
A perfect race weekend for Hamlin could give him the No. 1 seed. He has 15 playoff points going into Daytona, so he would need to win the regular-season championship (15 points), both stages (two playoff points), and the race (five playoff points) to jump to 37 playoff points and leapfrog Truex and Byron atop the playoff grid.
Seeding really does matter in making the championship fight a bit easier.
In the elimination format era, a driver seeding No. 1 has won the championship four times (Kyle Busch 2015; Truex 2017; Busch 2019; Kyle Larson 2021). The lowest a driver has been seeded and won the championship is seventh (Kevin Harvick 2014; Joey Logano 2018).
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks discusses Daniel Suarez’s playoff chances with two races left in the 2023 NASCAR regular season.
[autotag]Daniel Suarez[/autotag] finished in third place at the Indianapolis Road Course and earned the second-most points during the event. On the surface, it would be reasonable to think Suarez’s five-point deficit to the playoff cut-line turned into an advantage but that was not the case. Due to Michael McDowell’s impressive victory, the driver of the No. 99 car is 28 points below the cut-line.
The good thing for Suarez is that Watkins Glen International is next weekend and the final driver in the playoff picture, Bubba Wallace, has struggled at road courses during the 2023 NASCAR season. It is possible for Suarez to make it on points but Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks has other ideas.
“(Daniel Suarez) has to win now,” Marks said. “I mean, he did everything today. He performed today at the highest level that I’ve seen him perform. We had some problems in the pit stops, but his pace, his commitment, his fire was exactly why we pay him to do what he does, and he was awesome today.”
“It changes the landscape with (Michael McDowell) winning, so now we got to go to Watkins Glen, we’ve got to try to win that race. And if we don’t, we’ve got to go to Daytona and try to win that race. It’s as simple as that now.”
Suarez was arguably the best car at the Indianapolis Road Course and cut several seconds off McDowell’s lead after the final pit stop. Unfortunately for Suarez, a 24-second pit stop by the No. 99 team ended any possibility of a victory without a caution. Now, the Trackhouse Racing driver goes to Watkins Glen and Daytona International needing points or a win to make the 2023 NASCAR playoffs.
Daniel Suarez is confident the end of Sunday’s race at Indianapolis was going to be an entertaining fight for the win, but he was too far behind Michael McDowell for it to play out. “My car actually got better at the end, so I think we were going to …
Daniel Suarez is confident the end of Sunday’s race at Indianapolis was going to be an entertaining fight for the win, but he was too far behind Michael McDowell for it to play out.
“My car actually got better at the end, so I think we were going to have a pretty good shot,” Suarez said after finishing third. “It was going to be fun because I felt that the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) was pretty good, and then he was falling off at the end of the run. The No. 34 (McDowell) was pretty good in the middle part of the run, and I felt I was pretty good at the end of the run.
“So it was going to be a good fight. Disappointed that we didn’t get to see it.”
Suarez’s chance to be in the picture ended on pit road with 34 laps to go. The air hose got stuck under the left front when the jack was dropped and the team headed to the other side of the No. 99 Chevrolet. It was a costly hiccup on the stopwatch as the jackman had to return to the left side and jack the car back up so the tire changer could pull the hose out before the team completed the stop on the right side of the car.
“Just a few different things there, I believe, just looking at it quickly,” crew chief Travis Mack said of how the hose got stuck. “It just had a weird loop in it. Those hoses are really thick and awkward and just had a little weird loop in it. There are three guys involved: you’ve got Daniel stopping in the box, the tire changer who’s holding the hose, and then you got a guy behind the wall throwing the hose.
“It’s definitely a team thing, a team issue, that we’ll work on this week. We’ll just look at the film and see what we can do better next time.”
The Trackhouse Camaro lost time to McDowell and fell behind Chase Elliott in the running order. At the finish, Suarez had cut the gap to 5.7s behind McDowell from the 9s he lost on pit road.
“They were trying to keep me motivated, which I appreciate,” Suarez said of his team. “I love hearing that. It was good. I feel like we did a good job today. If I could rate ourselves today from one to 10, I feel we did a solid eight. But to win you need nine to 10s and today we were an eight, so we just have to be a little better next week.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
A victory would have locked the No. 99 into the playoffs, which is what it did for McDowell. Suarez entered Indianapolis five points below the cutline and below McDowell, who was three points out of a playoff spot.
Suarez started from the pole Sunday and led six laps. He finished second to McDowell in the first stage and was third behind Denny Hamlin and McDowell in the second stage.
“We just needed to get to them,” Suarez said. “I felt if I was within [range] like I was in Stage 1 and Stage 2, I think we were going to be good to fight. Unfortunately, we were a little bit too far away in the last stage and I cut that gap — I don’t know how much, but it just wasn’t enough.
“I feel like in the last stint I was stronger than them but not 8s stronger than them. It’s part of it. We have to continue to build. Continue to work. We have a few things to clean up, and I’m sure we’re going to be better.”
There will be a chance for redemption for Suarez at Watkins Glen. Suarez and his team head there riding a wave of momentum off back-to-back top-five finishes and confident they can repeat the strength shown in Indianapolis.
“Absolutely, we feel like we probably gave one up today, for sure,” Mack said. “We had the lead and the car was really good there at the end. I think we lost 9s in the pits; we came out 9s behind those guys and we ran them down within a few seconds. The car was definitely faster the last run, and if we could have come out in the lead there, I don’t think they could have gotten to us.
“But you never know what could have happened. The best thing we can do right now is bring the same car [next week], same speed, and do it again at another road course.”
Justin Marks said Suarez’s path to the playoffs is a matter of winning over the next two weeks.
“He has to win,” Marks said. “He has to win now. He did everything today. He performed today at the highest level that I’ve seen him perform. We had some problems on the pit stops but his pace, his commitment, his fire was exactly why we pay him to do what he does, and he was awesome today.
“It changes the landscape with [McDowell] winning, so now we got to go to Watkins Glen, try to win that race, and if we don’t, we have to go to Daytona and try to win that race. It’s simple as that. It’s a simple thing now.”
Daniel Suarez will have the best view of Turn 1 at the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, having earned the pole for the Verizon 200 – going fastest in qualifying at 99.814mph. It is his third …
Daniel Suarez will have the best view of Turn 1 at the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, having earned the pole for the Verizon 200 — going fastest in qualifying at 99.814mph. It is his third career pole.
Tyler Reddick, who won at Indianapolis last season, qualified second. His fast lap was 99.649mph.
Chase Elliott qualified third at 99.399mph and Michael McDowell qualified fourth at 99.288mph. Elliott and McDowell are two of the drivers to watch as the regular season winds down as both are outside the playoff grid. Whereas Elliott is in a seemingly must-win situation, McDowell is just three points below the cutline.
The driver sitting behind McDowell, ironically enough, is Suarez, five points below the cutline.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
Kyle Busch qualified fifth at 99.218mph, Kyle Larson sixth at 99.215mph and Christopher Bell seventh at 99.196mph.
Shane van Gisbergen qualified eighth for his second Cup Series start with a lap of 99.164mph.
Alex Bowman qualified ninth at 99.095mph and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10, also with a lap of 99.095mph. Gibbs holds the final spot on the playoff grid entering Indianapolis.
Brodie Kostecki slotted into 11th for his Cup Series debut, but his Richard Childress Racing team will be making repairs before Sunday’s race. The Australian got loose coming out of Turn 11 onto the oval and hit the outside wall with the left front.
Kamui Kobayashi ended up 28th for his Cup Series debut with 23XI Racing. Mike Rockenfeller qualified 37th in the No. 42 for Legacy Motor Club.
William Byron starts last after not being permitted to qualify. The No. 24 failed inspection three times, and he will also have to serve a pass-through after taking the green flag Sunday.
Daniel Suarez will lead the field to the green on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Road Course.
The Indianapolis Road Course has proved to be a chaotic race over the last two seasons and track position will remain an important factor. This will especially be the case for [autotag]Daniel Suarez[/autotag], who won the pole for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis.
Suarez’s fast time of 87.989 seconds beat Tyler Reddick by 0.145 seconds. Chase Elliott will start third while Michael McDowell rounds out the second row in fourth place.
As for the other drivers positioned around the playoff cut line, Alex Bowman will start ninth, Ty Gibbs qualified 10th, and A.J. Allmendinger will start 26th.
