Trackhouse Racing put both cars in the top five in the first race at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Superspeedway on Sunday. It’s the latest positive result in a hot streak for Pitbull’s team. Drivers Suarez and Chastain put a single car in the top five for the last three races to start the 2022 NASCAR season, and both drivers followed it up on Sunday.
Ross Chastain took a run on the last lap to second before the #20 of Christopher Bell passed him below the white line, handing the Gibbs driver a penalty to the back of the lead lap and handing Chastain a second-place finish, in a massive recovery after getting caught up in a mid-race crash.
Chastain, climbing out of his car with a smile, said: “What a day. That’s a fight in Trackhouse. This Gen 7 car to take a lick like that, blow a tire out of nowhere and leading, just cruising, blow a right rear, slam the wall. Thought our day was over. Our guys went underneath the car, got the toe closer, and we got the balance back where I could drive it.”
He said he just “can’t thank everyone at Trackhouse, [sponsor] the Moose, everybody that’s been on this car, and Justin Marks and his family for what they do for me, and Daniel Suárez, what a teammate to push me there at the end.”
Daniel Suarez drafted well with his teammate in the final laps and ultimately crossed the line in fifth, scoring fourth with Christopher Bell’s penalty.
He said his day was “up and down.” He added: “Our No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet was fast. We did a good job on pit road. We had fast pit stops. When we have a fast Chevrolet Camaro, it makes things easier. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing has been working very, very hard to build cars like this. We just have to keep it up.”
Chevrolet teams are working more closely between each other, giving Trackhouse the resources enjoyed by Hendrick and Childress, and the team is capitalizing. Chastain agreed. “Just, the Chevy was fast,” he said. “It was so fast. I mean, we were fighting with [winner] Will [Byron] there at the beginning.”
Suarez echoed that, and said: “We have a few trophies coming in the near future.”
NASCAR heads to a road course in Texas at Circuit of the Americas, and Trackhouse said they were “looking forward to keeping the momentum going next weekend at COTA.” Look for the team to continue their strong run.
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