Daniel Suárez came into Richmond Raceway on Saturday looking to continue a strong finish to the 2019 season. Suárez started Stage 1 in 14th and dropped back to 15th by lap six. On lap 17, Suárez gained his spot back and continued to run 14th. The Haas Automation driver battled for the 13th position with the No. 12 car of Ryan Blaney, and passed him on lap 28. After a battle with the No. 20 car of Erik Jones, Suárez fell back to 14th, reporting his car was tight in the center of the corners but loose off. Upon the conclusion of the stage, Suárez pitted for four tires, fuel and a slight tire pressure adjustment.

During a caution in Stage 2 on lap 113, Suárez was given the option to pit, but he chose to stay out and maintain track position. After a battle with his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Aric Almirola, Suárez fell back to 17th on lap 183. The remainder of the stage ran under green and the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang stayed on the lead lap, but Suárez reported that his car was tight as the stage came to an end.

On the Stage 3 restart, Suárez battled with his SHR teammate Clint Bowyer for 12th. After a caution on lap 244, the team pitted for four tires, fuel and a slight tire pressure adjustment. Restarted 14th. On the lap-250 restart, Suárez drove his No. 41 Haas Automation Ford up to 12th. After driving up to ninth, the caution came out on lap 316. Suárez pitted for four tires and fuel. Restarted 10th.

“I feel like it was a clean day. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the speed that we wish we had, but we worked very hard. We made good adjustments. The pit crew did a good job. They got better as the night went and we just had a top-10 car and finished in the top-10. We’re still working extremely hard to get that first win and, hopefully, we can make it happen soon.”

Date:  Sept. 21, 2019
Event:  Federated Auto Parts 400 (Round 28 of 36)
Series:  Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:  Richmond (Va.) Raceway (.75-mile oval)
Format:  400 laps, broken into three stages (100 laps/100 laps/200 laps)
Start/Finish:  14th/9th  (Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
Point Standing:  17th with 699 points

Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, Sept. 29 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. It is the third race of the 10-race playoffs and the last race in the Round of 16. It starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Source: SHR