Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):
● Daniel Suárez started second and finished fourth to earn seven bonus points.
● Suárez took the lead shortly after the green flag dropped.
● On lap 30 he dropped back into the second position after lacking overall grip.
● The Mexico native made a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 40 from the third position for fuel, four tires and adjustments.
● He returned to the racing surface and ultimately ended the stage in fourth.
● Suárez pitted for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help grip and started Stage 2 in seventh.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
● The No. 41 driver started seventh and finished 15th.
● The 27-year-old made a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 123 for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his racecar’s tight condition.
● The remainder of the stage ran under green, and the Haas Automation driver ended it 15th.
● During the Stage 2 break Suárez pitted for fuel, four tires and adjustments.
Final Recap (Laps 161-267):
● Suárez started 12th and finished 20th.
● During the caution on lap 182, he pitted from 12th for two right-side tires, fuel and adjustments and restarted fourth.
● The field became jumbled up on the restart, damaging the cars of several competitors, including Suárez.
● The next caution was displayed on lap 189, and Suárez brought his Ford Mustang down pit road from 15th multiple times for repairs to both sides of the car and to top off with fuel.
● He restarted 26th on lap 195.
● The rest of the stage ran under the green flag, and Suárez’s crew made the decision to stretch the fuel mileage to prevent him from having to make an additional stop.
● The Haas Automation driver was able to adjust his time on throttle for the remainder of the race to have enough fuel and ultimately finished 20th.
Notes:
● Suárez earned his 22nd top-20 of the season and his fourth top-20 in five career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
● Suárez led once for 29 laps to increase his laps-led total at Las Vegas to 41.
● Martin Truex Jr., won the South Point 400to score his 24th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fifth of the season and his second at Las Vegas. His margin of victory over second-place Harvick was 4.173 seconds.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 22 laps.
● Only 17 of the 39 drivers in the South Point 400finished on the lead lap.
Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We had a tough day with Haas Automation Mustang, especially when we got damage to both sides of the car after that one restart. The good news is we led laps, but the car was difficult to handle after all of the damage. We did the best we could with what we had until the end, and we’ll move on to next week at Richmond.”
Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. It is the second race of the 10-race playoffs and it starts at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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