There was only one green flag pass for the lead in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.
Restarting with 49 laps to go, it was the pass that ultimately gave Daniel Suarez his first career Cup Series win six years and 195 starts from the start.
Suarez, 30, led 47 of 110 laps, beating Chris Buescher by 3.8 seconds to take victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
It was Buescher that Suarez overtook in this restart before having to hold off Buescher in the last 40 or so laps, interrupted by a caution on lap 84.
Daniel Suarez celebrates his first NASCAR Cup victory. (HHP/Tom Copeland)
When Suarez and his No. 99 team Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet crossed the checkered flag, Suarez became the first Mexican-born driver to win the NASCAR Cup Series and only the fifth foreign driver to win. Suarez is the fourth different first-time winners this season.
During his cool-down lap, an enthusiastic Suarez just said, “F— yeah!” over his team radio.
It was clearly an emotional moment for someone who hadn’t won a NASCAR race since winning the 2016 Xfinity Series Championship.
“It’s crazy,” Suarez said. “I have so many thoughts in my head right now. I mean it’s been a bumpy road. It’s been a tough journey in the Cup Series.
“These guys believe in me, Trackhouse Racing, (team owner) Justin Marks, Ty Norris. Everyone who helped me get to this point. I a lot of people in Mexico: Jay Morales, Carlos Slim. My family, they never give up on me. A lot of people did it, but they didn’t.”
Suarez had to pull himself together a little as he continued.
“Just very happy we were able to get it working.”
Click here for race results.
Suarez wins in his second season with Trackhouse. The team co-owned by Marks and pop start Pitbull is the fourth team Suarez has called home in his tenure in the Cup Series. While Trackhouse has already won twice this season with Ross Chastain, this is the first win for the team’s flagship.
“They believed in me since day 1,” Suarez said. “You believe in me. All the people, all the resources to make it happen.”
Suárez is the second driver, alongside Juan Pablo Montoya, to win his first career NASCAR Cup race in Sonoma.
Marks said Suarez’s win was “hard to put into words.
“Daniel Suarez and (Crew Chief) Travis Mack helped build Trackhouse and they worked so hard together. They were so focused and so committed as they tried to get on the road to victory.”
It was Buescher’s best result in a Cup points race since his own first Cup win in 2016 at Pocono Raceway.
Buescher was in the top 10 all day and had kept his chance of a win after a pit penalty was overturned at the second stage pit stop.
“I’m just disappointed in myself,” said Buescher. “I didn’t do the work there. Apologize to those guys for planting an awesome Fifth/3rd Bank Mustang on me this weekend. A damn return. We had a lot of speed. I was just struggling for a bit of long-distance speed and wearing out the rear wheel (tire). Just didn’t make it when it mattered.
“It’s a great run. Great recovery from COTA what we had there. Everyone at RFK does a great job. It hurts to be so close but congratulations to Suarez. We tried, tried to get him. I ran out of breath then.”
Third was Michael McDowell from Front Motorsports. It equaled his best result since his first cup win in the 2021 Daytona 500. He also finished third at Talladega late last year.
Sunday also marked McDowell’s best result on a street course in the Cup Series and his first top 5 on a non-superspeedway track.
“We just started out on the slow side a little bit, but over the long run we’ve been really good,” McDowell said. “We started getting the leaders in there in the last five laps but it just took a little too long to get going. I’m proud of the whole team. This was a really solid weekend for our Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang. You have to be second, third, fourth and fifth consistently to put yourself in a position to win a race and we came close today. We just needed a little more front end to challenge. I’m really proud of everyone’s effort. We’re getting closer. We do this week in and week out, so I’m really proud of everyone.”
The top 5 was closed out by Kevin Harvick and Austin Cindric.
Daniel Suarez is the fourth first-time winner of the NASCAR Cup this season. (HHP/Harold Hinson)
(HHP/Harold Hinson)
The race was free of warnings until lap 10. Then the engine of Bubba Wallace’s #23 Toyota died and Wallace came to a stop near Turn 4.
“I never overrevated, never ran the wrong way, it just blew up,” Wallace told Fox Sports 1.
The top five were virtually unchanged from the start, with polesitter Kyle Larson leading ahead of Chase Elliott, McDowell, Buescher and Suarez.
Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell and William Byron were among the teams who chose to pit during the caution.
The race went back under green with 12 laps remaining in stage one.
Two laps into the run, Erik Jones spun off the course on his own at Turn 2 before continuing.
While Larson went to a three second lead, Buescher was third at the restart, passing Elliott at Turn 7 with four laps remaining for second place.
With three to go, a large group of drivers headed into the pits, including Buescher and Elliott. Larson stayed out and won the stage, only his second of the year.
The top 10 after 25 laps: Larson, Logano, Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, Aric Almirola, Harrison Burton, Josh Bilicki, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cody Ware.
Of the drivers who pitted at the break, Kyle Busch was first ahead of Larson.
At the restart of stage two, Elliott was first ahead of Buescher, Reddick, Chastain and McDowell.
By lap 34, six laps into the heat, Larson had used his fresher tires to move up to 18th place. On lap 40, Larson passed Joey Hand to get into the top 15.
With about nine laps to go, Jones spun trying to pass Kurt Busch at Turn 7. Moments later, Ross Chastain, who had been fourth, spun on the same corner trying to pass Suarez. Chastain dropped to seventh place.
The pit stops began with three laps to go on the stage.
During the stops, Elliott was penalized for pitting outside of his pits. Reddick was caught speeding. Buescher was initially fined after NASCAR said the team threw their pit can over the wall. But after the video was reviewed, the sentence was lifted.
Joey Logano stayed out and took the stage win.
The top 10 after 55 laps (and after Elliott’s penalty): Logano, Almirola, Suarez, Harvick, Gilliland, Burton, McDowell, Stenhouse, Blaney and Keselowski.
As the final stage went under green, Buescher initially had the lead ahead of Suarez, McDowell and Harvick.
Suarez took the lead at the restart as Buescher dropped to fourth place. Buescher would climb back to second with 40 laps to go while Suarez continued to lead.
The final lap of scheduled pit stops began with about 35 laps remaining in the race.
Buescher and Harvick were first among the leaders to pit with 30 to go. Harvick had a slow stop because his car had to be jacked up again while the crew changed the left tires.
Suarez finally pitted with 29 laps to go and handed the lead to Keselowski. It was his first guided lap since Las Vegas.
A lap later, caution returned for the second time when Larson lost his right front wheel after his pit stop.
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