Races October 7, 2021 Rain Ends Race Just Past Halfway Mark Date: October 4th, 2021 Event: YellaWood 500 (Round 31 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Talladega Super Speedway (2.66-mile oval) Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps) Start/Finish: 18th / 23rd (running, completed 117 of 117 laps) Point Standing: 25th with 536 points Notes: Daniel Suárez finished 23rd in Monday’s rain-shortened NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Suárez is 25th in the season standings after 31 of 36 races. Rain before Sunday afternoon’s green flag postponed the race until Monday. The showers returned Monday causing a brief stoppage on lap 73 and ultimately ended the race on lap 118 – about 70 laps before the scheduled finish. Suárez started 18th Monday and chose to stay at the back of the field in the first stage to avoid the pack racing that often leads to multi-car accidents. That proved to be the correct strategy as several accidents eliminated some of the race favorites. He employed the same strategy in the second stage. However, the rain returned in the closing laps of the stage stopping action on lap 117 of a scheduled 188 laps. Since the stoppage came after the halfway mark, the race was ruled an official race. The Cup Series will return to action Sunday, Oct. 10 on the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NBC will televise Sunday’s race at 2 p.m. EDT. Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 99 Good Sam Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing: “I’m disappointed the race ended early. I think the fans would have seen a great race. I think we would have shown how fast our Good Sam Chevrolet was today. We didn’t want to get caught up in anyone’s wreck so we stayed out of the pack racing. We were going to go to the front in the final stage, but never got the chance.”
