Suarez returns to the site of the closest finish in NASCAR history looking for a playoff payoff

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — The best year of Daniel Suarez’s life began in February when he won the NASCAR Mexico race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an event essentially staged with Suarez as the star.

Later that month came the closest finish in NASCAR history, a photo-finish victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway that locked Suarez into the playoffs after a one-year absence.

In the six or so months since, Suarez became an American citizen, married Julia Piquet, built a house and was the guest of honor in Mexico City last week when NASCAR said it would race there next year in its first international Cup Series event of the modern era.

And now it is back to Atlanta, where NASCAR's 10-race playoffs begin with Suarez back in the championship hunt after missing the field a year ago. His Atlanta win in February was just the second of his Cup career and he surprisingly beat champion Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide photo finish by .003 seconds.

The finish was so unbelievable that Blaney isn't even mad he lost.

“I didn’t feel upset about it. It was pretty wild and I kind of put in my head like, ‘I’ve won them by that much, too,'” Blaney said. "That I lost one by half a foot, I can’t really be mad about it.

“That was a great finish. A spectacular finish. Like, the only time I wasn’t upset about running second, at all.”

And so Suarez on Sunday starts the playoffs ranked 11th in the 16-driver field. The first of three rounds runs until later this month at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the road course in Watkins Glen, New York, sandwiched in between. Four drivers will be eliminated at the end of each round.

Yes, this has been the best year of Suarez's personal life. Now is the time to make it the best year of his professional life, too. He's the only Trackhouse Racing playoff representative because teammate Ross Chastain did not qualify.

He feels well positioned for a better showing than his 2022 playoff debut, when he finished 10th.

“I feel like as a driver I’m much better than two years ago. The team is better than two years ago. We’re smarter, we’re faster,” Suarez said. "But we still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, we can execute well and have a good first round and then a second round. One step at a time.

"We cannot be thinking about the Watkins Glen race. We’re focusing on Atlanta right now.”

Bowman not concerned about future

Alex Bowman opens the playoffs ranked 12th in the standings and aware that people are wondering how safe his seat is at Hendrick Motorsports.

“That rumor has certainly been annoying,” Bowman said ahead of his future with Hendrick Motorsports potentially coming to an end. “Obviously, my contract is through the end of 2026. All I can tell you is what my bosses have told me, and that is that there are no plans to change anything. As far as I know, I’m driving the No. 48 next year.”

He admitted he “called everybody” to ensure he was safe and was guaranteed he's good.

“Everything’s fine,” he said.

Bowman is in his seventh full-time season with Hendrick Motorsports and has made it to the playoffs six times. He made it this year with a win on the streets of Chicago.

Bowman begins the playoffs on the cutline with five playoff points. He is tied with Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton at the bottom of the standings.

Front-row Fords

Ford dominated Saturday qualifying at Atlanta as Michael McDowell took the top starting spot ahead of the playoff opener.

McDowell in the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports set the fast lap with an average speed of 179.261 mph for his fifth pole of 2024. The five poles is tied with Kyle Larson for most this year in the Cup Series.

Seven Ford cars qualified inside the top 10 for Sunday's race.

Defending series champion Ryan Blaney starts on the front row alongside McDowell, with Todd Gilliland of Front Row, Josh Berry of Stewart-Haas Racing and Austin Cindric of Team Penske joining teammate Blaney as Ford drivers in the top 10.

Kyle Larson in a Chevrolet, Joey Logano in a Ford, Austin Dillon and William Byron in Chevrolets and Chase Briscoe in a Ford rounded out the top 10.

Playoff drivers Alex Bowman and Harrison Burton qualified 11th and 12th, and 2020 champion Chase Elliott was 16th. Brad Keselowski qualified 19th.

Toyota struggled to find speed in Saturday qualifying. Ty Gibbs, in his playoff debut, was the manufacturer’s top qualifier in 20th position. He was followed by teammate Martin Truex Jr. in 22nd and Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing in 23rd.

Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner in 2024, was notably slow in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and will start 38th — last — in Sunday’s race. Hamlin’s qualifying speed of 167.665 mph was over 2 mph slower than 37th-place qualifier JJ Yeley.

Toyota Racing Development was evaluating the engine ahead of Sunday's race.

“They see a few red flags certainly, so they’ll dig into it tonight and get it fixed," Hamlin said. “It means we start last and then we’ll just battle to the front. We feel good about what we brought. It’s just, we’ve got to get it to the finish.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press