Sometimes finishing second can feel like the worst position to finish a race. At the Quaker State 400, Daniel Suarez had a promising run, but that was all taken away when the race restarted. What happened was that a Walmart banner came loose from the catch fence at the front straightaway. With only 10 laps remaining, NASCAR officials decided to call a caution. The restart took place with only 5 laps left, but the race went into overtime.

The overtime did not play out in Daniel Suarez’s favor, as the driver, who was catching up with the field, lost his pace. Atlanta is Suarez’s strong point, as he managed to secure his playoff spot by winning at the same circuit earlier this year. But it is still shocking to see a driver who qualified 30th fight for the win during the last few laps of overtime only to finish second. Suarez gave fans a race that they will not forget soon, but ultimately, he watched the win slip away from his hands. Explaining what happened towards the end of the race, Suarez spoke about what went wrong.

Daniel Suarez explains the loss of his dancing partner during the Atlanta playoffs overtime

Daniel Suarez was doing extremely well, catching up 28 positions on the track throughout the race. What was more impressive was how he managed to put up a challenge for Joey Logano, who knew that he had to be on his toes when it came to finishing the race after the restart.

Ross Chastain became Suarez’s knight in shining armor for the race as he helped him gain several positions before the race restarted by giving his teammate a push. However, that came to an end at the race restart. A reporter spoke about Suarez getting a push from his teammate and mentioned how once the restart took off, Chastain couldn’t help the Mexican anymore.

In response to that, the No.99 Trackhouse Racing Team driver agreed with the reporter as he explained, “I mean, yeah, that was the case, but I can thank the one and off because he pushed me very, very well in the restart—all the way through one and two, all the way through three and four. He kept me in position, and we were right there in the fight.”

Chastain managed to help Suarez twice with a push, after which he had some difficulty that led to him dropping off. Suarez explained, “I was timing, you know, the second push, and once I got the second push, I lost him. I don’t know if he had a flat tire or what happened exactly, but once I lost him, I knew that was it. It was over because that was my dancing partner.”

Despite the result, Suarez stated that he was very proud of the team for doing a great job. The Mexican driver knows that the Atlanta Motorspeedway is one of his stronger tracks, as his record in the last few years has been quite impressive, with him being in the top 2 for the last 3 times that NASCAR has taken to the Speedway.

Although a P2 finish is quite good in terms of playoff points, Suarez was slightly disappointed that he couldn’t nab the win.

Suarez expresses his discontent with not finishing in the Victory Lane

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Post the Mexican’s strong finishes at the track, he stated, “Kind of stinks that we’re not in Victory Lane. I felt like we were in a position to do that, but that’s part of racing.” However, it was not all grim for the Trackhouse Racing driver, as he explained that despite the setback, he believes that this was a “good start to the playoffs.”

Although he scored the second-highest points at Atlanta, he mentioned that he does not care about the points. It was just the weather that he was concerned about before mentioning that it’s all a part of racing.

His choice of racing in the outside lane was a strategic move, considering he was on old tires, and from the looks of it, he made the right choice. Suarez noted that he could have done better while crediting Logano’s efforts on the track. Ultimately, the 2018 and 2022 Cup Series champions took the lead and finished the race on victory road.

Considering everything that went down on the track, what do you think of Daniel Suarez’s performance at the Quaker State 400? Do you think he will be able to pull off similar feats during the rest of the playoff races? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.