They say the house always wins in Las Vegas.
Trackhouse Racing may have come up shy of victory lane, but the organization still put together a banner day in Sunday’s (Mar. 16) Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Both Daniel Suarez (second) and Ross Chastain (fifth) finished inside the top-five for the first time since the 2023 Auto Club 400.
Varying strategies by the field opened the door for Suarez and Chastain to find their way to the front. Both Trackhouse drivers earned stage points in stage 2. By the time the pay window opened in the race’s closing laps, they were right in the mix.
Suarez was the leader when the field took the green flag with 19 laps to go and initially took the lead with a well-timed backstretch push from Chastain. But he couldn’t hold the spot, surrendering the bottom to Josh Berry and losing the top spot to him with 16 laps remaining.
That was the end of the road for Suarez, who told Fox Sports that he had struggled on short runs all afternoon. He could only watch as Berry marched off into the Vegas sunset.
“It just sucks to be that close,” Suarez said afterward. “Sometimes it feels better to run third than second. Proud of everyone at Trackhouse, the No. 1 team there for working with me.
“We did everything in our power at the end, we just need to be a little bit better on the short run. Eventually, he (Berry) was putting pressure on me and the car started bottoming out. I almost wrecked.”
“A lot of good things from today,” Suarez continued. “A good day to build off of.”
Chastain’s shot at the win was undone by two moments – the final caution that eliminated what seemed like a race-winning strategy for his team and the friendly gesture to push Suarez. The Floridian was the first one without fear of running out of fuel before a caution ended the penultimate run. And as the Fox broadcast noted, had it not been Suarez in front of Chastain, he might’ve attempted a three-wide move into turn 3 on the final restart.
“We need both cars running good,” Chastain said. “I want them (the No. 99 team) to do good. It’s going to help us. To run third in the second stage and fifth overall, that’s great. It helps everything, it helps me sleep better at night, honestly. We still need to be better, though. We have a very close benchmark to look at.
“Of course, I want to be the one up there leading. If that last caution doesn’t come out, we win the race on fuel mileage with a fifth-place car. But it didn’t and we still finished fifth. Seeing my teammate fight for the win, I’m pumped.
“I’m more excited that the other car was fast. That’s the secret sauce it takes to truly compete for wins in the Cup Series; you need multiple cars firing. Trackhouse will see the rewards.”
Not everything went to plan for the company. The team’s other car – the No. 88 driven by Shane van Gisbergen – called it a day early in 34th after an accident-filled race. But that was the lone setback.
After both Suarez and Chastain made the playoffs in 2022, Trackhouse has only placed one car into the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. Sunday’s race was a step in the right direction for a team looking to take the next step and assert itself as a consistent contender for wins and championships.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.