Team USA Toyota Runs as High as Second Before 13-Car Accident Ends Day

Date: Oct. 4, 2020

Event: YellaWood 500 (Round 31 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)

Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)

Start/Finish: 31st / 34th (Accident, completed 108 of 200 laps)

Point Standing: 31st with 317 points

Note: Race extended 12 laps past its scheduled 188-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-60):

• Started 29th, finished 30th.
• Suárez and his Team USA Toyota dropped a pair of positions during the opening run to the lap-25 competition caution. He pitted from 31st for tires and fuel, packer added to both fronts and track bar adjustments across the rear in an effort to elevate the front end. He resumed 29th when the race went back to green on lap 30.
• The stage went green from there to the end with Suárez crossing the line 30th. He said the front-end height seemed to feel right over the long run, that his Team USA Toyota needed work on the balance as he was too tight all around the track and the rear end felt unstable. He pitted during the break for packer added to the left front, track bar and air pressure adjustments in the rear.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 61-108):

• Started 13th, finished 34th.
• A single-car incident brought out the caution flag three laps after the stage’s lap-65 start with Suárez running 14th. He pitted twice during what turned out to be an extended caution period to top off his fuel tank and resumed 22nd when the race went back to green on lap 73.
• The Team USA Toyota team called Suárez to pit lane on lap 86 for a scheduled green-flag stop coordinated with the other Toyota teams, but the caution flag appeared for a single-car incident just as Suárez was approaching the entrance to pit road. He was able to abort his pit entry, allowing him to stay on track and make his stop for fuel, tires and a track bar adjustment under caution, instead. He resumed in 11th when the race went back to green on lap 92.
• The race remained green until 12 laps before the scheduled conclusion of the stage with Suárez running 13th when the largest, multicar accident to that point occurred on lap 108. It involved 13 cars, including Suárez’s Team USA Toyota, as he could not steer his way through the melee without heavy damage, and he was unable to continue. He was scored 34th in the final running order.

Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 96 Team USA Toyota Camry for Gaunt Brothers Racing:

“That was definitely not the way we were hoping to end our day. You never know what’s going to happen at Talladega and Daytona because so much is out of your control, but we had another good Team USA Toyota today, like we did at Daytona. We just needed to get to the end of the race so we could fight for a good finish and we got caught up in something. It is what it is. Now we go to the road course at Charlotte and we’ll hope to make the most of our day there next week.”

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for Suárez and Gaunt Brothers Racing is the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, Oct. 11 on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway road course. It starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Contact Laz Denes

True Speed Communication on behalf of Gaunt Brothers Racing

(704) 875-3388, ext. 806 or Laz.Denes@TrueSpeedCommunication.com