Until the first round of pit stops, Daniel Suarez looked like the class of field in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
Seeking his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, Suarez started on the pole and led the first 49 laps, but during a pit stop under caution for Chase Elliott’s blown right-front tire, Suarez’s crew chief, Billy Scott, opted for four tires, while many others went for right-sides only or no tires.
RELATED: Race results | Kurt Busch prevails in OT
Consequently, the driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford dropped to 13th for a restart on Lap 53. Further hurting Suarez’s effort was a green-flag pit stop on Lap 108 that drew a pit-road speeding penalty. Suarez lost three laps before he began a determined rally.
When green-flag stops cycled through, he was one lap down, and on Lap 179 of a planned 267, he returned to the lead lap as the highest-scored lapped car. A determined drive the rest of the way left him eighth at the finish.
“It was an eventful night for sure,” Suarez said. “We just had a fast race car but we got a bit tight. I feel like we made the car better, but we never got the track position back. We had a tire going down and then I was speeding coming to pit road because I was wheel-hopping because of the tire.
“It was one problem after another. We were fast enough to overcome that, but not enough to get a better finish. I feel like the good thing is that we have the speed. We just have to keep working to have a cleaner day and keep working to try to keep that speed the whole race.”