Daniel Suarez seeks to shake off Fontana near-miss

By his count, Daniel Suarez has replayed the finish of last Sunday’s Cup race at Auto Club Speedway “only like 137 times.”

After a late-race charge, the Trackhouse Racing driver lined up alongside Kyle Larson on the front row for the restart with four laps to go.

Suarez briefly took the lead off Turn 2 with three laps to go. But through Turns 3 and 4, Suarez stuck to the bottom instead of trying to blunt Larson’s momentum along the wall.

“That was a decision that I made and that is a decision I am going to live the rest of my life with,” Suarez said Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

If you can’t tell, it didn’t work out. Larson surged up to Suarez off the top, drove to his inside through the tri-oval, and had the lead back by the time they reached Turn 1.

Larson went on to win the race, while Suarez faded to fourth.

Despite the setback, it was still one of the stronger days that the 2-year-old Trackhouse organization has had in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Teammate Ross Chastain, also pushed toward the front before a spin with 29 laps to go – while running sixth – ended his chances of getting the result.

With that, Suarez and his No. 99 crew feel they’re going in the right direction entering Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox).

Tough practice session. P21 in quali. Lots to learn still but we’ll make our way up to the front tomorrow