Daniel Suárez began the weekend at ISM Raceway looking to capitalize off of a top-3 finish in Texas. Suárez finished 15th in qualifying on Saturday aiming to set up a good run for the in the Bluegreen Vacations 500.  The Ford driver began his run Sunday in 15th and remained in the top-20 early on.  The first caution came out on lap 68, Suárez then pitted from the 14th spot.  Suárez received a penalty for speeding on pit road after receiving four tires, fuel and adjustments to loosen the car.  The Haas Automation driver restarted at the rear of the field and finished Stage 1 in 23rd.  Suárez did not pit during the Stage break.

The 27-year-old worked his way forward after battling an ill-handling Mustang to open the stage.  On lap 127, the Haas Automation Mustang team confirmed debris on the grille as Suárez ran 17th.  As the long run continued, Suárez worked his way to the 16th position, where he completed the stage.  During the Stage 2 break he pitted for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help his Mustang.

Suárez started the final stage in 14th.  The caution was displayed on lap 165, but Suárez did not visit pit road and restarted 13th.  On lap 191 he was in the 16th spot.  The Haas Automation driver made a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 245 from the top-15 for fuel, four tires and adjustments.  After pit stops cycled through, Suárez was in the 11th position on lap 262.  With nine laps to go the final caution came out, and Suárez stayed out to take the wave-around and restart 11th.  In the sprint to the finish he made contact with competitors and was relegated to a 15th-place finish.

“We had good speed in the car on the long run, but we were lacking a little bit on the short run. I got a pit road speeding penalty early on, but we were fortunate enough to recover from that. At the end of the race we were 11th, and then the last caution came out. We all restarted with a few laps to go, and everyone had their own agendas. We lost a few spots and had some damage to the car, which is disappointing.”

Date: Nov. 10, 2019
Event: Bluegreen Vacations 500k
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: ISM Raceway near Phoenix (1-mile oval)
Format: 312 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/162 laps)
Start/Finish: 15th/15th (Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
Point Standing: 17th with 823 points

Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The final race of the 10-race playoffs starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.