Character Building Day for Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Team

Date: April 12^th, 2026

Event: Food City Dirt Race (Round 8 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, oval)

Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

Start/Finish: 13th / 12th (completed 505 of 505 laps)

Point Standing: 15^th with 192 points

Notes:

• Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, fought hard all day despite handling issues and earned a 12th-place finish in Sunday’s 503-lap race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway to secure his sixth top-20 finish of the season and 10th in 15 starts at the short track.
• Suárez started 13th and reported at the halfway point of Stage 1 that his Chevrolet was tight on entry and a bit loose on exit. When the yellow flag was shown for the first caution of the day, crew chief Ryan Sparks responded by calling for air pressure adjustments, fuel and a fresh set of four Goodyear tires. The No. 7 team restarted in the same position and went on to finish Stage 1 in 14th. Following pit stops, Suárez restarted 13th when the field returned to green for Stage 2. On the second caution for incident on Lap 145, Suárez brought the black-and-green machine to pit road for additional adjustments and rejoined the field in 23rd. He continued to search for more overall grip when the yellow flag was shown again just 16 laps later. The No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet ultimately finished Stage 2 in 25th before pitting at the break and lining up 21st for the Final Stage.
• The Monterrey, Mexico native continued to fight similar handling conditions throughout the last segment. On Lap 377, he went a lap down to the leader but received the free pass shortly after during a Lap-383 caution and restarted 19th with 110 laps to go in the race. Later, on Lap 464, Suárez again went a lap down but was able to take the wave around when the yellow flag was displayed on Lap 487. He lined up 15th with 14 laps remaining in the scheduled 500-lap distance and was able to gain additional positions in NASCAR Overtime to cross the finish line in 12th.

Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 7 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro for Spire Motorsports:

“I’m proud of my team. We never gave up. We started the race strong, but lost a bit of balance and fell behind, and track position became really important making it tough to stay in the mix. Still, we kept fighting in the No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet and were able to recover well by the end, so I’m really proud of the effort. We still have some work to do, but as a group, we’re getting stronger and stronger.”