“Anything but a Bounce Back”: HMS Legend Pities Ross Chastain’s Teammate

Ross Chastain has had quite an impressive season. With six Top 5 finishings in his bag and a glorious victory at the Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, things are looking quite good for him. The Trackhouse Racing champ currently has a 7th Standing in the Cup Series playoffs list, and has garnered the faith of countless NASCAR fans. However, can the same be said about Chastain’s teammate Daniel Suarez?

In light of the recent Cup Series race at Richmond, NASCAR on NBC analysts, Steve Letarte, Jeff Burton, and NASCAR on NBC Announcer Rick Allen got involved in a discussion. And what former HMS Crew Chief Letarte had to say gives quite the required clarity on where racers like Daniel Suarez stand with respect to the upcoming Playoffs. His analysis makes clear the discourse that Suarez should take as his immediate course of action.

The mess that Daniel Suarez made at Richmond

Daniel Suarez finished 33rd in last weekend’s race at Richmond. This led him to have a 19th Standing in the Cup Series Playoffs list. He made quite a mess during the restart at the 400-lap race where he was out on fresh tires. His rank thus made a drop from the 15th position to 23rd when he had to run the remaining few laps on old tires. The performance was nothing but a source of disappointment for Suarez fans, and Steve Letarte chose to elaborate on it. 

“You know, a week ago the guy got caught up in a mess on a restart and they were looking for a bounce back at Richmond and they got anything but a bounce back. I know he was involved in the caution lead and that’s going to be on everyone’s mind, but he was involved running in the back unlike in Pocono where I thought it was just a racing incident and those things happen,” he said.

Suarez as well as his fans had hoped that Pocono would ensure his entry into the playoffs. However, all such optimism was marred when he had to make an exit in the first stage itself. Even in Richmond, all hopes of him performing well vanished after his contact with Kyle Larson in the pit lane. This indeed made it evident what the upcoming races were going to look like for him. 

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However, Steve Letarte feels pity for Suarez and believes that Trackhouse Racing can play a bigger role in enhancing Suarez’s performance. 

“You know, nowhere to be found to be quite honest was all of Trackhouse. The whole Organization um just didn’t have any sort of pace when it came to Richmond and Daniel Suarez has scored – what you count them on one hand, it’s not going to be good. Five Points in two weeks – that’s not good. You need multiple hands to count points if you’re gonna go into the playoffs.”

“Now, the good news for Suarez is I think he has a very strong and mentally tough team around him,” he explained. He further mentions how having an experienced Travis Mack on top of the pit crews is nothing short of a boon for Suarez. Mack’s experience with dealing with similar instances with both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series can actually be of great use to him. 

With only four weeks of racing left till the playoffs, both fans and Letarte feel that it’s high time that Suarez stepped up his game. The Michigan race in the upcoming weekend might be the best time to level up.

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