Daniel Suarez Hangs On for Cathartic Coca-Cola 600 Win at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. -- Daniel Suarez hung on and had a little help from Mother Nature to win the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

Suarez led what became the final 17 laps of the rain-shortened, 373-lap race, to get his third career win in the NASCAR Cup Series and his first in the Coca-Cola 600. 

The win is special for Suarez, a Kyle Busch Motorsports alum, who credited Busch with being instrumental in helping him develop into a Cup Series talent.

"It was a tough week so to get this win, we're doing it for Kyle, for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, for all of his family. Every win is special but definitely this one has a special flavor because of Kyle. If it wasn't for Kyle, I wasn't gonna be an Xfinity champion, I wasn't gonna be in Cup. It's unbelievable," Suarez said.

Suarez's race started off with no indication he would end it in victory lane. He fell a lap down in the first stage and received the free pass under caution on lap 54.

By lap 114, however, Suarez moved up to ninth and showed a glimmer of speed despite not earning any stage points all night.

That glimmer, however, faded fast. In the second stage on lap 200, he faded to 30th and only rebounded to 22nd in the third stage on lap 300. 

The critical moment of the race was a quick caution on lap 330 when Suarez earned the free pass. After crew chief Ryan Sparks brought him to pit road during that caution, he made another call that put Suarez in the lead on lap 357 after a caution for lightning.

Suarez had to fight hard to keep the lead and had some help from two cautions for rain, on lap 362 and finally on lap 373 when the skies opened up and sent him to victory lane.

The Monterrey, Mexico native is the first foreign-born driver to win the Coca-Cola 600. 

"To win with Spire Motorsports, Freeway Insurance, it's just unbelievable. It wasn't easy. The car was fast. We were having issues but we knew we were fast," Suarez said.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 373): Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron, Zane Smith.

Smith finished 10th and had a standout night for Front Row Motorsports.

"For a smaller team, where we go from the back to the front to the back to the front, is really amazing. We had a really good Aaron's Ford and hopefully we can bring one to Nashville," Smith said. "I thought we were gonna have a stage win but we were speeding 50.01 so... Overall, glad we held on to a top-10 run."

Byron also had a remarkable comeback after falling a lap down and running outside of the top-20 during the second stage. 

Shane van Gisbergen finished 11th after leading 11 laps and running inside the top-10 all night on speed, inching toward the top-five toward the end before falling back. His average running position was 7.8, compared to 25th entering the race.

Finishing 12th, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also earned stage points and ran inside the top-10 on speed much of the night. 

In 16th, Cole Custer had by far his best run of the night. Behind him, in 17th and on the lead lap, Alex Bowman recovered from a broken transaxle that left him without first and second gear and off of the lead lap.

Katherine Legge finished 31st after completing 361 of 373 laps and 541.5 miles. Legge lost two laps after a wheel detached from her car on lap 211.

Legge completed 584 miles in her attempt at the Double, ranking 10th of 12 Double attempts where a driver entered Memorial Day Sunday qualified to race both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. Her attempt ranks ahead of Kyle Larson in 2024 (500 miles) and Robby Gordon in 1997 (326.5 miles). 

Chase Briscoe finished 34th after a crash on lap 330 and earning enough stage points to get 27 points on the race. 

The first stage was eventful with three cautions falling -- on lap 36 for Josh Berry spinning in turn two, on lap 54 for a hard crash involving Austin Cindric and Connor Zilisch and on lap 91 for Chase Elliott crashing on the backstretch.

Tyler Reddick led the first 39 laps from the pole after giving up the pole in pace laps to honor Kyle Busch.

He controlled the stage until Zane Smith's No. 38 team kept him out during the caution on lap 54 and gave him the lead. Smith led 31 laps and looked to be in control of the stage until the caution for Elliott fell with 10 laps to go in the stage.

During the caution, Smith had a speeding penalty due to calibration issue. The team worked with him to fix the issue, setting up a comeback but no stage points in the first stage.

Michael McDowell and John Hunter Nemechek stayed out but the drivers off of pit road -- Erik Jones on two tires and everyone else on four -- commanded the green-white-checker with Larson getting it first.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 100): Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Shane van Gisbergen.

Larson led the stage to start before Briscoe entered the picture and led 32 laps. Hamlin soon picked up the pace and commanded the caution-free stage. 

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 200): Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Shane van Gisbergen, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

In the second stage, the only caution fell for Legge's detached wheel. Hamlin controlled the stage but Reddick came to life as the No. 11 car faded. 

However, Hamlin came back to Reddick on lap 287 as five of the leaders came together to race for the lead, 70 laps into the green flag run. Ultimately, Christopher Bell used a tire advantage to jump to the lead over Hamlin on lap 296 and take the stage win.

STAGE THREE TOP-10 (LAP 300): Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Weather looming raised the intensity and the caution count. Ross Chastain and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. collided on lap 319, multiple cars wrecked on lap 330 and weather caused multiple cautions, ultimately culminating in the rain-shortened finish. 

Control of the race volleyed from Bell to Gibbs to Shane van Gisbergen back to Bell and finally to Suarez. 

Suarez has jumped to 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, thanks to the win. He is now 62 points above the Chase cutline.