Suárez Optimistic And Poised Going Into Watkins Glen

Daniel Suarez, seen here from an earlier race weekend, looks for a chance to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Daniel Suárez heads into Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International 28 points behind Bubba Wallace – in the first position outside the Playoff-eligible top 16 drivers.

The only NASCAR Cup Series victory of Suárez’s career came on the Sonoma Raceway road course last year, and he arrives in upstate New York feeling very optimistic.

A victory this week or in next week’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway would be an automatic Playoff entry. Yet the approach for Suárez is that he doesn’t want the team focusing on making the Playoffs. The 31-year old Mexican driver wants them to be focused on winning the championship – the two goals going hand-in-hand, obviously. And he’s been good at The Glen with three top-five finishes in five starts and an average finish of 12.0.

It appeared as if Suárez was headed for that Playoff ticket at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last weekend. He won pole position, led six of the 82 laps – and was up front all race – but a miscue on a pit stop cost him and was never able to seriously challenge winner Michael McDowell afterward.

Following the event Suárez said he had the “longest meeting ever” with his pit crew.

“That 23-second stop should have been 15-second and if it was, I would have won the race,” Suárez said, adding, “We failed at Indianapolis, but success comes from failure.

“I can tell you my pit crew is hungry, I’m hungry and my engineers are hungry. I can tell you we are in a good place to fight.”

“The 99-team is ready for battle,” he added with a smile.

Wrapping Up The Regular Season Title

Martin Truex, Jr. acknowledged there is a sense of familiarity between this season and his incredible 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship run. He currently holds a 60-point advantage over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in second place. All Truex needs is to leave Watkins Glen with a 61-point advantage to officially claim the regular season title – his second. Asked if this season – three victories plus the Busch Light Clash win and nine top-five finishes – was on par with how he felt in his 2017 run for glory, Truex conceded there were similarities.

“I feel like in our years where we won our championship or finished second and were right there it was kind of the same feeling,” Truex said. “Every week was okay, we’re right there and if we do everything right, we’re going to be in the hunt for the win. Yeah, that feels good and hopefully we can keep that up for the next 12 races.”

Rookie Magic

Ty Gibbs is attempting to become only the sixth NASCAR Cup Series rookie to earn a position in the Playoffs. He starts Sunday’s race ranked 19th – 49 points off the cutline – essentially needing a victory either this week at Watkins Glen or next week in the Daytona International Speedway season finale to secure a chance at the 2023 championship run.

In speaking with the media on Saturday, Gibbs insisted that although he essentially has two races remaining to secure a Playoff position, he prepares for every race the same – not allowing himself to get any more intense for these last two Playoff shots.

“I feel like I prepare the same for every race and with my little experience in the Cup Series compared to these guys, I have to work really hard at it and try to just do the best I can and go win,” said Gibbs.

“I was closer than I am now,” he said of losing points in the last couple weeks. “But it’s really cool and I’m very blessed to be in this position and I’ve got a great team around me and it would be great to make the Playoffs.

“I think you just go win or you somehow have great points days.”

Austin Hill Re-ups With RCR In Xfinity Series

Richard Childress Racing started the Watkins Glen race weekend off with an important announcement, the team has re-signed NASCAR Xfinity Series championship leader Austin Hill extending his contract through an undisclosed number of years.

Hill, who hails from Winston, Georgia, said several teams had reached out to him but that ultimately it came down to loyalty and a solid relationship with the championship owner Childress. The contract includes at least a full 2024 Xfinity Series drive, but indicated if RCR got a third NASCAR Cup Series charter, things could change.

“At the end of the day, Richard (Childress) made it pretty tough on me, just because of the man he is and everything we did last season and this season together” said Hill.

“I’m just very very loyal to a fault and I think Richard and I share the same values, like the same things and it makes it very easy to work with someone like Richard Childress… There’s a lot of things outside of just driving the race car that made sense to me and that’s what made it – at the end of the day, an easy decision – to stay here with RCR and to kind of keep building that momentum with them going forward and hopefully get to do that for a really long time.”

NASCAR Cup Series
Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, NY
Go Bowling at The Glen – August 20, 2023

Sunday’s Starting Line Up

1. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 125.298 mph.
2. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 124.961 mph.
3. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 124.949 mph.
4. (54) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 124.890 mph.
5. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 124.874 mph.
6. (16) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 124.645 mph.
7. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 124.395 mph.
8. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 124.187 mph.
9. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 124.089 mph.
10. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 123.835 mph.
11. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 0.000 mph.
12. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
13. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 0.000 mph.
14. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
15. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
16. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
17. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 0.000 mph.
18. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
19. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 0.000 mph.
20. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
21. (42) Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
22. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
23. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 0.000 mph.
24. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 0.000 mph.
25. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.
26. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 0.000 mph.
27. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 0.000 mph.
28. (47) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
29. (15) Andy Lally, Ford, 0.000 mph.
30. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 0.000 mph.
31. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
32. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 0.000 mph.
33. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 0.000 mph.
34. (51) Cole Custer(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
35. (78) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
36. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.