Top Dog: Daniel Suarez
In what was an unusually calm Silly Season entering 2026, Daniel Suarez was at the center of roster changes in the NASCAR Cup Series, departing Trackhouse Racing for Spire Motorsports in the offseason.
A couple of years ago, the transition was unforeseeable, given the fact that Suarez appeared to be a cornerstone driver for Trackhouse. However, after 2025 saw few highs and plenty of lows, a change of scene was necessary for both parties.
Suarez and Spire’s first tango together came in The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Wednesday (Feb. 5). While the quarter-mile oval provides a thin notebook for what to expect for the season, initial signs were promising for the new pairing, as Suarez scored a fourth-place finish in the exhibition event.
The event was pushed back three days due to a historic snowstorm blanketing North Carolina during the scheduled Feb. 1 weekend. However, despite hard work by several hands to ready the track for the race, the adversity of the elements didn’t loosen up, pushing drivers to the limits by the end.
The Climb to the Top
With the postponement consolidating all on-track activity into one day, practice and qualifying became both brisk and crucial for Suarez to get his feet wet in his new ride.
The Monterrey, Mexico native was scored in 25th after practice as the track began to develop an identity. In qualifying, the fastest 20 drivers advanced to the main event, while everyone else fought it out for two spots in the Last Chance Qualifier.
Fortunately for Suarez, the team made necessary adjustments to avoid the stress of the LCQ, as Suarez got in by the skin of his teeth, qualifying 20th.
Forward progress wasn’t rapid for Suarez to begin the race, but it didn’t take long for him to discover the short track temper that Bowman Gray evokes. A fierce battle with his former Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen set off several jabs from both drivers heading into the halfway break.
By the halfway break, Suarez battled to 18th, but not before he engaged in more tense confrontations with Bubba Wallace on the track, with the two slamming into each other.
The close-quarter racing wasn’t enough to spell unpredictability for the field, as a shower containing sleet delayed action during the break.
Teams were forced to switch to the wet-weather tires to resume action, and that’s when the tide turned for Suarez.
With grooves limited due to the rain, several drivers incurred issues on restarts, allowing Suarez to slowly pick his way through the field. By lap 130, the No. 7 had worked its way to third.
Suarez continued to hover around the top five despite endless wrecks, drivers running out of fuel, and changing moisture conditions on the track. The 34-year-old even got to second in the late stages before falling to fourth as a result of more restarts, holding on to secure the top-five result.
Overall, Suarez gained 16 spots from his 20th-place starting position, the second-best progression behind race winner Ryan Preece (+17).
Looking Ahead
With the official regular season commencing with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15, it will be difficult to get a read on Suarez’s new situation for the first few weeks. However, every lap and on-track time can only help with new faces in new places, and the result at Bowman Gray provides a metric for the team to reach for.
Suarez’s fourth-place finish was his career-best in The Clash, with the learning curve appearing low initially. However, the key for this pairing will be to establish a consistent tone early on while maximizing results, something both Suarez and the No. 7 team struggled to obtain in 2025.
Other Underdogs in the Show
This year’s edition of The Clash was filled with the powerhouse teams of the sport, as many of the underdogs watched the main event from the couch after failing to transfer in through qualifying and the LCQ.
Yet Suarez wasn’t the lone representative in the show, as his Spire teammate Carson Hocevar also locked a spot in the 200-lap event, as well as the heralded rookie Connor Zilisch.
Hocevar’s aggression looked to be the perfect ingredient to make a run at the trophy in the first half. The third-year driver stormed into the top 10 from his 12th-place starting spot, quickly picking one driver after the other up and putting them down. By the halfway break, Hocevar had rocketed to the top five.
Following the weather delay, Hocevar took over the lead, pacing the field for 18 laps before losing the top spot. Still, the No. 77 was in the heat of the battle for the win before things were upended.
On lap 145, Zilisch turned Ty Gibbs in turn 1, causing a stack-up in the field that ended with Hocevar getting hooked into the outside wall, tearing up the right front.
Despite the damage, Hocevar was able to continue, but the drama wasn’t over for the Portage, Mich. native. With 20 laps to go, Hocevar ended up on the receiving end of Wallace’s gripe with Spire, as the 23XI Racing driver turned Hocevar into the infield. Ultimately, Hocevar limped to 15th after a promising night early on.
Meanwhile, the trait of quick adaptability that Zilisch possesses was on display once again. In his first start at The Madhouse, it didn’t take long for the freshman driver to fit right in.
After starting 19th, Zilisch worked his way to 12th by the halfway point, making steady gains throughout the night.
But that wasn’t enough for the dazzling teenager.
Shortly into the second half, Zilisch cracked the top five, asserting himself as a frontrunning contender for several laps. The strong performance continued to build before the contact with Gibbs sent everything into a downward spiral.
Zilisch was involved in another multi-car incident on lap 145, damaging his No. 88 and relegating him to 18th. Still, though the sample size is minuscule thus far, early signs show that the hype surrounding Zilisch is bound to become reality.
Small Team Scheme of the Race
Like last year’s Clash, Trackhouse rolled out its bold neon liveries for Zilisch and van Gisbergen. Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet sported an electric blue and neon green look, standing out among the competition. Trackhouse has proven to leave out no little detail, and the Red Bull addition surrounding the headlight decals completes an early scheme-of-the-year candidate.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a news writer before elevating to a columnist, where he served as the longtime writer for The Underdog House. Currently, he is an editor for the site and conducts feature interviews. Glover has covered several forms of racing for the site including NASCAR, CARS Tour, and SRX events.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a promotional writer, elementary athletic director, and basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.
All of the fans that braved the elements should all be given a free pass to a race of their choosing this season after enduring that event Those were the true diehard fans