Daniel Suárez car chief ejected, to start from the rear at Talladega after unapproved adjustment
Daniel Suárez will start from the rear in Sunday's Round of 12 race at Talladega after his No. 99 team made an unapproved adjustment to the roof area after Saturday's inspection period.
Suárez will serve a pass-through penalty after taking the green flag, and his car chief has been ejected. Suárez originally qualified 31st, one of four playoff drivers to start outside the top 20.
The 32-year-old comes into Sunday's playoff race 14 points below the cutline with two races remaining before the postseason field shrinks from 12 to eight. Suárez advanced to the Round of 12 on the back of a runner-up finish at Atlanta and a 13th-place finish at Watkins Glen. He finished 13th in the Round of 12 opener at Kansas this past Sunday.
Daniel Suárez off to rocky start ahead of Talladega playoff raceSuárez has been consistent of late at the 2.66-mile tri-oval, compiling three top 10s in his last four starts. The lone finish outside the top 10 came in the spring race this season where he finished 26th.
One of the underdogs remaining in the playoff field, Suárez knows he has to maximize his opportunities. Doing that at a racetrack as unpredictable as Talladega is no easy task.
"I, personally, don't think points right now," Suárez said ahead of the Round of 12. "It's too early. I'm gonna just go out there and race, maximize the potential for the race car. If that's good enough to win the race, great. If that's good enough for a top five, good.
"So, we just have to go out there and just focus one race at a time. Talladega is very unpredictable. Here is unpredictable. We're gonna be running very close to the wall. There's a lot of opportunities in this round and now we have to try to maximize that."
