An eventful Daytona 500 for series veteran Daniel Suárez. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
Disappointment is a word many drivers would describe their efforts in the 65th Daytona 500. For Daniel Suárez, he’s simply glad to leave Daytona International Speedway with a seventh-place finish. All in large part of the Sunday afternoon Suárez had where it appeared a strong result was out of the question.
Rolling off 24th, Suárez and track position was a struggle throughout race regulation. After a caution-free Stage 1, chaos broke out on Lap 118 when a slow multi-car crash collected Suárez in Turn 4.
It began when Kevin Harvick ran into the back of Tyler Reddick, causing a ripple effect where Ryan Blaney and a few others lost control.
Suárez was inside the top-15 when it appeared he would escape the incident. Once Erik Jones clipped Chase Elliott like a pinball, Suárez’s left front hit Elliott. The contact would send the No. 99 Tootsies Chevrolet Camaro veering right, slightly making wall contact.
For the fifth Daytona 500, Suárez was involved in a crash. Unlike previous times, he soldiered on.
However, he was far from done dealing with chaos.
As the field were coming to Lap 198, Suárez was running in 11th when he caught up with the lead pack, opting to work with Austin Cindric on the low line. Suddenly, Suárez lost control in Turn 4 and forced “The Great American Race” to go into overtime.
Adding insult to injury, Suárez’s Camaro ended up getting stuck in the tri-oval grass in large part of having a flat tire.
“We just spun out there and I was just struggling with loose balance when people would get to the rear bumper for some reason,” said Suárez. “That one, (Cindric) came very close to me, very tight and the car behind me came very close as well and got me loose.”
Like the first incident, Suárez kept the car on track as the race had two more major accidents that wiped out more cars with the second ending the race under caution. Recovering from a late-race spin, Suárez avoided both wrecks and able to kick off the 2023 campaign with his best Daytona 500 finish to date.
After all the carnage, Suárez scored his first Daytona 500 top-10 finish. (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
In five previous 500 starts, Suárez finished no better than 18th last year which marked his first 500 he even made it at the finish.
Luck indeed is turning around, but it was more than that for last year’s Sonoma winner. All-around teamwork from the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team propelled Suarez to keep fighting and while dozens of cars left the 2.5-mile superspeedway with wrecked cars, some worse than others, Suárez leaves Florida with confidence.
Recently signing a contract extension with Trackhouse, perhaps one day the Harley J. Earl Trophy will be his to take home.
“It was a little bit crazy, but I told the team they did a hell of a job. We lacked track position most of the day, and when it mattered the most, we had it,” said Suárez. “We recovered and we are getting better at this kind of racing and we are going to get one of these one day.”
The Cup Series will head to Auto Club Speedway for the sport’s final race under the two-mile configuration. Race coverage of the Pala Casino 400 begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. In five Cup starts, Suárez has scored two top-10s with fourth from last year being his best result.
