Spire Motorsports Driver Holds onto P18 After Tricky Final Stint

Date: March 15^th, 2026

Event: Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube (Round 5 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)

Start/Finish: 13th / 18th (completed 267 of 267 laps)

Point Standing: 17^th with 117 points

Notes:

• Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, showed strong speed despite battling handling issues throughout Sunday’s race. He finished 18th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning his third top-20 finish of the season.
• After starting from the 13th position for his 18th NASCAR Cup Series start at Las Vegas, Suárez ran inside the top 20 throughout Stage 1 and took the green-and-white checkered flag in 16th. He lined up 15th for the start of Stage 2 following a pit stop to secure the balance of his Chevrolet and raced his way up to the fifth position before pitting under green with 39 laps remaining in the stage. He cycled into the 20th position and by Lap 154, the Freeway Insurance Chevy was setting a pace two-tenths of a second faster than the leaders. Suárez fought his way back to 16th as the second stage neared its end. The 34-year-old driver reported he needed more grip and the No. 7 team addressed the balance issue at the conclusion of Stage 2.
• Suárez restarted 14th for the final segment and had strong momentum with 87 laps remaining in the 267-lap event. The Monterrey, Mexico native reported he was losing engine power at Lap 202 prior to a caution flag being displayed on Lap 212. Suárez restarted 13th following a pit stop with 51 laps to go and crossed the finish line in 18th to maintain his position of 17th in the driver championship point standings.

Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro for Spire Motorsports:

“I thought we executed a good race, with the exception of the last stint, which was a bit of an outlier. Overall, I felt like we executed well and maximized what we had. We were probably around a top-15 car with good cycles and good adjustments. In the final stage, we had a lot of things not go our way. We really need to analyze that and see what happened there, but overall, it was a good execution day for the No. 7 Freeway Insurance team. We just need a little more speed to be able to compete further up front.”