No smiles after a frustrating conclusion in the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
Trackhouse Racing led a combined total of 189 of 413 laps in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, neither Ross Chastain nor Daniel Suarez were able to hoist the trophy in the longest NASCAR Cup Series race in history.
Both competitors went from being hard to beat throughout the night to collected in accidents in Turn 4. This cost them a shot of having both cars bringing home a potential 1-2 finish for the first time in their young history.
Suarez’s overall strong pace got the job done in Stage 2 and racked up 10 stage points and a playoff point to his name. One stage later, it was Chastain’s turn to earn such an honor. The latter ended up leading a race-high 153 laps but as the race came down to the wire, Chastain had an angry pack of wolves poised to conquer the two-time Cup Series winner.
Those wolves included the likes of Kyle Larson, Cole Custer, Chase Briscoe, and Chastain’s teammate Suarez. Suddenly, things began heading south for the two-car effort on Lap 347 when a battle for fourth between Suarez and Briscoe backfired in Turn 4. The contact sent Suarez around in front of the field. Todd Gilliland would slam into Suarez which sent him colliding with Chris Buescher, who had just been turned by Harrison Burton.
The incident destroyed the car of both Suarez and Buescher, with the latter tumbling end-over-end, bringing out the red flag at Charlotte.
Chris Buescher flips at Charlotte. He's okay. pic.twitter.com/op5MtHU16h
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 30, 2022
While Gilliland and Burton continued their races, the same could not be said for Suarez and Buescher. Both were checked and released from the care center but again for Suarez, another strong race without the result to validate the outing.
“I just got tight,” Suarez said regarding the multi-car crash. “With these cars, clean air is very important. They were side-by-side in front of me. I was fine in front and eventually, I got in the middle of the wake and I got super tight. I put myself in a bad situation there. It was just a tough situation.
“I’m just glad Chris is fine. My team has been building rockets. We had the best car out there. It was a struggle for us on pit road. Not my guys, but the situation where we were in with the 22 (Joey Logano) and the 11 (Denny Hamlin). We have to learn from it and come back stronger.”
Suarez finished 25th after leading 36 laps at the 1.5-mile circuit.
Daniel Suarez entering Turn 4 at Charlotte. (Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
Once the 11-minute stoppage concluded, Chastain had to fend off the field once again but his time at the front ended on Lap 353. Larson was able to get by Chastain and became the man to beat after all the hell he went through that would’ve been “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” worthy.
Chastain faded as Briscoe took second and had a battle with Larson in the closing laps. With the two duking it out, Chastain was not far behind but had another shot to redeem himself following Briscoe’s spin in Turn 1 on Lap 398. The leaders pitted with Larson just eking out Chastain off pit road by inches as they opted to go for two tires.
When the race resumed, all hell broke loose as Austin Dillon, who took four tires, stormed his way to the front. Then Denny Hamlin made it four-wide entering Turn 4 where disaster struck. Dillon lost control in front of the pack, collecting Chastain, Larson, and Logano.
FOUR WIDE … BIG CRASH …
We'll line 'em up again!#CocaCola600 | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/aMUhuq0Khg
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 30, 2022
Once the carnage ended, Hamlin was now in front of Chastain for the second overtime restart. Chastain’s chances of winning went awry as soon as the green flag dropped for the final time. He was off the pace and nursed the wounded car to a gut-punching 15th place finish while Hamlin ended up winning the Coke 600.
In the blink of an eye, Trackhouse went from glory to agony in the final stage. They’ll pack their bags and head to Madison, Illinois for the inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway which will air Sunday, June 5 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
