Suárez Earns Fourth-Place Finish at Michigan

Race Winner:  Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner:  Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 2 Winner:  Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-60):

● Daniel Suárez started ninth and finished 16th.

● Suárez was running 20th when the competition caution came out on lap 20.

● He reported that his No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang was free on entry into the track’s corners. Crew chief Billy Scott brought Suárez to pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment on lap 22.

● Suárez restarted 21st and fell back on the restart to 25th, but as his handling began to improve with 15 laps left in the stage, he moved up to 16th.

● At the conclusion of the stage, Suárez pitted for four tires and fuel with no adjustments, as he was happy with the handling of his Haas Automation Mustang.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 61-120):

● Suárez started 17th and finished 12th.

● Under caution on lap 71, Suárez said his Haas Automation Ford Mustang was good on the restart. He came to pit road for fuel only.

● Suárez restarted 12th on lap 75 and quickly moved into the top-10.

● On lap 91, Suárez made a pass for eighth but lost his momentum in the bottom groove and dropped back to 14th.

● Running 15th with 20 laps remaining in the stage, Suárez reported that his No. 41 Mustang was tight on exit.

● Suárez climbed to 12th at the end of the stage after the leaders were forced to pit for fuel.

● Suárez pitted for fuel, four tires and adjustments at the conclusion of the stage.

 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 121-203):

● Suárez started 22nd and finished fourth.

● Restarted in 22nd as a result of several cars in the top-10 pitting for right-side tires. Suárez was able to move up to 10th before the caution came out on lap 131.

● Following another caution and subsequent restart on lap 141, Suárez moved from 10th to fourth.

● Suárez took over the lead on lap 175 before making a scheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 176 for right-side tires and fuel.

● After the race’s final caution on lap 197, Suárez lined up sixth for the green-white-checkered finish.

● Suárez advanced to fourth with the help of his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick to earn his best finish at Michigan.

 

Notes:

● Suárez earned his second top-five and sixth top-10 of the season in the FireKeepers Casino 400.

● Suárez’s fourth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Michigan – 11th in the series’ previous visit to the track last August. This was his fifth career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Michigan.

● Suárez has finished inside the top-10 for two straight weeks. He was eighth last week at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

● Suárez led a single lap to increase his laps-led total at Michigan to four.

● Joey Logano won the FireKeepers Casino 400 to score his 23rd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Michigan. His margin of victory over second-place Kurt Busch was .147 of a second.

● There were seven caution periods for a total of 35 laps.

● Twenty-five of the 36 drivers in the FireKeepers Casino 400 finished on the lead lap.

● Logano leaves Michigan as the new championship leader with a nine-point advantage over second-place Kyle Busch.

 

Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Demo Day Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“The car was pretty strong the entire weekend and then again today. We just struggled for whatever reasons on the long runs in the first half of the race. We were able to make some adjustments and come back, and I am proud of my guys. We still have some work to do, but we are slowly heading into the right direction.”

 

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Save Mart 350k on Sunday, June 23 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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