Driving a car that had to be repaired after a brush with the outside wall in practice, Daniel Suarez avoided trouble and the sort of fuel shortage that plagued other competitors to run fifth in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The top five moved the driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to 17th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, only four points behind teammate Clint Bowyer and fellow Ford driver Ryan Newman, who are currently tied for the final Playoff position.
“It was a decent day for us,” Suarez said. “We had ups and downs. There was something wrong, a bad set of tires or something in that second stage. We couldn’t control it.
“The team was able to overcome that with good adjustments and they put me back in the game with track position, and we were able to get a good result from there.”
As Suarez was interviewed on pit road, he watched teammate and race winner Kevin Harvick light up his tires in a celebratory burnout.
“Someday soon, you’re going to see us doing that,” Suarez promised.
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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