No one should be surprised that a Spire Motorsports Chevrolet went to Victory Lane again. At this point the only surprising thing is that anyone still acts surprised when they do.
But on a weekend wrapped in grief, soaked in rain and held together with little more than stubbornness and caffeine, it was Daniel Suarez who somehow gave NASCAR a reason to smile again Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Crew chief Ryan Sparks rolled the dice late with a two-tire call that looked, on paper, about as sensible as wrestling an alligator in flip-flops. Then NASCAR threw in a phantom lightning hold, off-and-on rain showers, two chaotic restarts and maybe, depending on your beliefs, a little intervention from somewhere above the clouds.
And through all of it, Suarez refused to crack.
After threatening all evening, the weather that had plagued the entire Memorial Day weekend finally came calling on lap 354. NASCAR announced a lightning hold, but instead of stopping the field immediately, officials cleared the hold long enough for Tyler Reddick — who started on the pole and led a race-high 119 laps — to bring the field to pit road.
Everyone took four tires.
Everyone except Daniel Suarez.
That instantly turned Suarez into bait.
The green flag waved on lap 359 and the expectation was simple: Suarez’s two tires would last about as long as ice cream in August. Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Reddick all lined up behind him armed with four fresh Goodyears and bad intentions.
But the expected collapse never came.
Instead, Suarez drove like a man who simply was not going to lose. He held Bell, Hamlin and Reddick behind him as rain began to spit onto the speedway. As the drizzle intensified, the field came down pit road and stopped, Suarez and his team very obviously hoping the sky would finish the job for them.
It didn’t.
After a red flag lasting 7 minutes and 55 seconds, engines re-fired and Suarez once again became the target sitting on old two tires against some of the sharpest predators in NASCAR.
Once again, he survived.
Suarez launched perfectly on the restart and stayed in front for four more laps before the rain finally returned with enough force to end the argument. The track was lost, the field was parked and with 27 laps remaining NASCAR called the race.
Daniel Suarez was officially the winner.
And somehow, on one of the most emotional weekends the sport has endured in decades, it felt fitting.
The day began under a cloud far heavier than the weather as NASCAR honored the memory of Kyle Busch. His absence lingered over the speedway all day, from the silent pre-race tribute to the empty space left on the front row before the green flag.
Several drivers spoke before the race about Busch’s impact on their careers and lives. Few had a more personal connection than Suarez.
When Suarez arrived in America from Mexico chasing a dream that at times must have seemed utterly ridiculous, Busch helped him navigate it all.
“In 2015, I used to call Kyle once a week for his help and guidance as I started going to racetracks for the first time,” Suarez posted following Busch’s death. “He gave me a hand when I was brand new to this. I am in complete shock. I am thinking of his family during this incredibly difficult time.”
So perhaps it was appropriate that the driver Busch once mentored spent Sunday night driving like a man determined to honor him.
“It really means a lot,” Suarez said afterward. “It’s been a very tough week. Kyle, he was special, man. This one is for Kyle. For Kyle, for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, all his family.”
“This win is for him,” Suarez added fighting back tears. “If it wasn’t for Kyle, I wasn’t going to be an Xfinity champion. I wasn’t going to have my shot in the Cup Series. To win this race for him is unbelievable.”
The level of difficulty in Suarez’s victory could be measured by the names stacked behind him at the finish. Bell came home second followed by Hamlin, Reddick and Kyle Larson.
And Bell made it clear afterward that Suarez earned every inch of it.
“I knew after the first restart, I knew he couldn’t get clear,” Bell said. “I was going to have to stay beside him. I couldn’t stay beside him. He cleared me. Once he cleared me, I knew it was going to be a really tough pass.”
“If we would have had all the laps, he was going to block like hell,” Bell added with a grin. “Yeah, he did a good job blocking, but he won the race.”
Earlier in the evening, Reddick led the field to green and controlled much of the opening stage until the first caution flew on lap 34 when Josh Berry spun harmlessly exiting Turn 2.
A few laps later, Turn 2 showed considerably less mercy.
Austin Cindric spun on lap 52 in what initially looked harmless until his Ford drifted back down the banking. William Byron escaped with slight contact, but Conner Zilisch wasn’t nearly as fortunate. Zilisch spun trying to avoid Cindric and both drivers were finished for the night.
Ross Chastain later stayed out under caution and briefly inherited the lead on lap 59 while Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Chris Buescher gambled with two tires. Smith quickly proved the strategy had merit by driving to the lead while Chastain’s no-tire gamble collapsed spectacularly, dropping him to 33rd like a stone tossed off a bridge.
Smith’s strong run ended when he was nabbed for speeding on pit road before Chase Elliott slammed the inside wall on lap 90 after getting loose off Turn 2.
From there the race settled briefly into a duel between Larson, Hamlin, Bell and Reddick, though “settled” might be too calm a word for a race that spent most of the night feeling like it was one lightning strike away from complete madness.
Hamlin dominated much of Stage 2 and won it by more than three seconds over Ty Gibbs before Memorial Day ceremonies paused the action.
Then came the rain.
Then came the chaos.
Then came Daniel Suarez, hanging onto the lead with two tires and sheer determination while the sky itself seemed undecided about what should happen next.
“The car was fast,” Suarez said. “We had some issues, but we knew all weekend the car had plenty of speed.”
On Sunday night, speed helped.
Heart probably mattered more.
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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