Races September 4, 2023 Trackhouse Driver Drives Inside Top 10 Before Costly Blocks Date: September 3rd, 2023 Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 27 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Darlington Raceway (1.366-mile oval) Format: 367 laps, broken into three stages (115 laps/115 laps/137 laps) Start/Finish: 21st / 34th (accident, completed 320 of 367 laps) Playoff Standing: 18th with 576 points Notes: Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez finished 34th in Sunday night’s Southern 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Both Trackhouse Chevrolets teammates started slow at the beginning of the 500-mile race but each improved throughout the race and appeared to be two of the fastest cars in the final laps. Suárez was running eighth when an aggressive, miss-timed block by Alex Bowman triggered a race-ending crash for both with 48 laps remaining. It wasn’t an easy race. Both drivers struggled in traffic in the first stage, but Suárez spent the final 30 laps of the stage holding off leader Denny Hamlin to keep himself on the lead lap in 23rd and allowing Ross Chastain to earn the free pass to back on the lead lap as the first car down a lap in 22nd. The second stage saw several cautions including a seven-minute delay when the lights went out in turns three and four. A late pit stop in the second stage, allowed Suárez and Chastain to stay on the track during the caution break and start the final stage in the top 10. Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing: “That depends who you ask. I had a run on him (Alex Bowman). I went to the inside and after that, he blocked me pretty low. I had to lift a little bit to not wreck him and put him into the inside wall. We’re both Chevy partners, so I didn’t want to do that to him. But then I went high and he blocked me again. You can block once, but you can’t block twice like that. We’ve been racing here three and a half hours and to wreck with 40 laps to go, it’s a little bit dumb. Just have to be smart. My No. 99 Freeway.com Chevy team did a very good job. I feel like today, we had a great car and all we have to show for it is a wrecked race car.”
