Daniel Suárez started the race in Las Vegas in second alongside the rest of the SHR drivers and took the lead shortly after the green flag dropped in Stage 1. On lap 30 he dropped back into the second position after lacking overall grip. The Mexico native made a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 40 from the third position for fuel, four tires, and adjustments. He returned to the racing surface and ultimately ended the stage in fourth. Suárez pitted for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with grip during the beginning of the second stage.

The 27-year-old started the second stage in the seventh position and made a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 123 for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his racecar’s tight condition. The remainder of the stage ran under green, and the Haas Automation driver ended it 15th. During the Stage 2 break, Suárez pitted for fuel, four tires and adjustments.

During the caution on lap 182, he pitted from 12th for two right-side tires, fuel and adjustments and restarted fourth. The field became jumbled up on the restart, damaging the cars of several competitors, including Suárez. The next caution was displayed on lap 189, and Suárez brought his Ford Mustang down pit road from 15th multiple times for repairs to both sides of the car and to top off with fuel.  The Haas Automation driver was able to adjust his time on the throttle for the remainder of the race to have enough fuel and ultimately finished 20th.

“We had a tough day with Haas Automation Mustang, especially when we got damage to both sides of the car after that one restart. The good news is we led laps, but the car was difficult to handle after all of the damage. We did the best we could with what we had until the end, and we’ll move on to next week at Richmond.”

Date: Sept. 15, 2019
Event: South Point 400 (Round 27 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish: 2nd/20th (Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 17th with 672 points

Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. It is the second race of the 10-race playoffs and it starts at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Source: SHR