Daniel Suárez capitalized on a late two-tire pit strategic call that netted him a rain-shortened victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 24.
The 2016 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, led the final 17 of 373-shortened laps in an event where he qualified in 14th place and rallied from making an early unscheduled pit stop under green that pinned him a lap down in the first stage period. Amid various pit strategies, several on-track incidents and a late overcast of wet weather, Suárez cycled to the lead during a caution period with 44 laps remaining after he only elected for a two-tire pit service for track position.
During the event’s final restart with 31 laps remaining, Suárez received a strong launch to remain out in front of Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin for three green-flag laps. But a caution was displayed with three laps remaining. As the track conditions worsened, which would require extra time to dry, Suárez was declared the winner. He cherished the victory and dedicated it to his late fellow competitor and ex-teammate/boss, Kyle Busch.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a metric qualifying formula. This was due to inclement weather, which canceled Saturday’s on-track qualifications. As a result, Tyler Reddick was awarded the pole position. He shared the front row with Ty Gibbs. Alex Bowman was the lone competitor who dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to his entry.
Before the event, a moment of silence and a bagpipe performance of Amazing Grace were performed to pay homage to the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. Busch’s wife, Samantha, his two children, Brexton and Lennix, his parents, Tom and Gaye, his brother, Kurt, and all in attendance. This was followed by a 21-gun salute and the performance of Taps for Memorial Day.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Tyler Reddick dueled with Ty Gibbs for nearly a full lap in front of a stacked field before the former motored ahead from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4. Reddick led the first lap over Gibbs while Michael McDowell, Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher followed suit, respectively. Reddick proceeded to stretch his early advantage to four-tenths of a second by the fifth lap mark as Gibbs, McDowell, Blaney and van Gisbergen were racing in the top five, respectively.
On the eighth lap, a moment of silence was held in remembrance of Kyle Busch during the event’s live broadcast. The fans in the grandstands gestured eight fingers to salute and pay homage to Kyle Busch, who raced the number 8. As the on-track action continued, Reddick stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second during the eighth lap mark and he slightly grew it to eight-tenths of a second by Lap 15.
Through the first 25-scheduled laps, Reddick continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second. He was followed by Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, and Shane van Gisbergen in the top five. Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric and Austin Dillon completed the top 10.
AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suárez, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, Zane Smith and William Byron, respectively. Meanwhile, Austin Hill, piloting Busch’s entry that was re-numbered from 8 to 33, was scored in 21st place. He was ahead of Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski and Todd Gilliland while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Connor Zilisch, Corey Heim, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman trailed in the top 30, respectively. Katherine Legge and Timmy Hill were lapped by Reddick while Carson Hocevar was mired in 31st place.
Nine laps later, the event’s first caution flew when Josh Berry, who was racing outside the top-30 mark, spun off the second turn. During the event’s first caution period, the field led by Reddick pitted for service for the first time. Following the pit stops, Reddick exited pit road first ahead of Briscoe, Gibbs, Preece, Hamlin, van Gisbergen, Cindric, Larson, Buescher and Austin Dillon, respectively.
The start of the next restart on Lap 39 featured Reddick and Briscoe battling for the lead, where Briscoe led the next lap before Reddick reassumed it by Lap 41. Reddick proceeded to stabilize his advantage over Briscoe by the Lap 50 mark while Gibbs, Hamlin, Preece, Buescher, Wallace, Larson, van Gisbergen and Austin Dillon followed suit in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Daniel Suárez, after making an unscheduled pit stop three laps earlier, was a lap down in 38th place.
On Lap 53, the caution returned when Austin Cindric, who was racing outside of the top-10 mark, got sideways off the front of Christopher Bell through the first two turns. Cindric slid from the bottom towards the outside wall before he lightly bounced off the wall and clipped the side of Byron as Byron was trying to avoid Cindric. As Cindric kept sliding down the apron, he was hit hard by an oncoming Connor Zilisch, leaving both competitors’ entries destroyed. During this latest caution period, some of the drivers, including Preece, Buescher, Zane Smith, Reddick, Briscoe, Hamlin and Gibbs, pitted, while the rest, led by Ross Chastain, remained on the track.
As the Coca-Cola 600 restarted on Lap 59, Wallace was off the pace after being shoved into the wall by Byron and McDowell. While Wallace pitted, the event remained under green flag conditions as both Zane Smith and Preece overtook Chastain and battled for the lead during the next lap. Preece led the Lap 60 mark before Smith assumed full control during the next lap and so forth. Smith led through the Lap 89 mark before the caution flew as Chase Elliott got loose off the second turn, slid down the backstretch and hit the inside wall head-on. This latest caution period featured most of the leaders pitting, except for McDowell and John Hunter Nemechek. Amid the pit stops, Bell received a penalty for equipment interference. Zane Smith was also penalized for speeding on pit road.
With five laps remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted as McDowell briefly gained an advantage with the lead from the inside lane. Through the first two turns, Larson and Hamlin pinned McDowell in a three-wide battle as Larson motored ahead with the lead. Hamlin then used the outside lane to draw alongside Larson through Turns 3 and 4, with the battle ensuing throughout the frontstretch. By the following lap, Larson was able to clear Hamlin and maintain a steady lead while Chase Briscoe challenged teammate Hamlin for third place. By then, McDowell had fallen outside of the top-10 mark while Erik Jones, Reddick, Blaney, Gibbs, Preece, van Gisbergen and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trailed in the top 10, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 100, Larson captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Briscoe, Reddick, Hamlin, Jones, Blaney, Gibbs, Preece, Stenhouse and van Gisbergen were scored in the top 10, respectively. And, 33 of 39 competitors scored on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, most of the front-runners led by Larson remained on the track. Other drivers, including Jones, Buescher, Noah Gragson, Ty Dillon, Cole Custer, McDowell, Nemechek, Cody Ware and Ross Chastain pitted.
The second stage period of the Coca-Cola 600 started on Lap 108 as Larson and Briscoe occupied the front row. At the start, Larson received a push from Hamlin and motored ahead of Briscoe through the first two turns. As the field fanned out and jostled for spots through the backstretch, Larson led the next two laps before Briscoe drew alongside and overtook Larson entering Turns 3 and 4 by Lap 111.
Just past the Lap 125 mark, Briscoe was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin while Reddick, teammate Gibbs and Larson occupied the top-five spots ahead of Blaney, van Gisbergen, Stenhouse, Keselowski and Josh Berry, respectively. Briscoe stabilized his lead to eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin by Lap 130 before Hamlin narrowed the deficit to be within three-tenths behind Briscoe on Lap 140.
On Lap 143, Hamlin overtook Briscoe for the lead. Shortly after, green flag pit stops commenced as Byron pitted. More names that included Austin Dillon, Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek and Suárez pitted before Briscoe, Preece, Allmendinger and Corey Heim pitted by Lap 146. The leader Hamlin pitted on Lap 147 along with Larson, Blaney, van Gisbergen, Zane Smith and Bowman before more names that included Gibbs, Reddick, Stenhouse, Jones, Noah Gragson, Buescher and Joey Logano towards the Lap 150. Once the remainder of the field pitted under green, including Bell and Hocevar, Hamlin cycled back to the lead by Lap 155.
Just past the Lap 160 mark, Hamlin was leading the Coca-Cola 600 by more than three seconds over Briscoe while Gibbs, Larson, Reddick, Bell, Blaney, van Gisbergen, Stenhouse and Buescher were in the top 10, respectively. Hamlin added another second to his advantage, a four-second lead, by Lap 170, before the advantage slightly decreased to above three seconds at the Lap 180 mark. Hamlin would grow his lead back up to four seconds by Lap 190 as Gibbs, Briscoe, Larson, Reddick and Bell were in the top six, respectively.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 200, Hamlin claimed his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season over Gibbs, Briscoe, Reddick, Larson, Bell, Blaney, Buescher, van Gisbergen and Stenhouse, respectively. By then, 17 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the second stage break of the Coca-Cola 600, the field was brought to pit road for a brief intermission period. During the intermission period, the entire NASCAR community shared a moment of silence to honor and observe the men and women who sacrificed their lives in service of the United States of America on Memorial Day weekend. Once the intermission period concluded, the leaders pitted for service, and Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Briscoe, Gibbs, Larson, Reddick, Buescher, van Gisbergen, Blaney, Stenhouse and Preece.
The third stage period of the Coca-Cola 600 started on Lap 207 as Hamlin and Briscoe occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin dueled with Briscoe for nearly a full lap before he side-drafted his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate through the backstretch and just managed to motor ahead from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4, which he led the next lap. By Lap 209, the caution returned when Katherine Legge, who had fallen off the pace and was driving below the apron in Turns 3 and 4, had a right-front wheel detached from her entry.
The next restart on Lap 215 featured Hamlin and Briscoe dueling for the lead for a second time. Compared to the previous restart, Briscoe managed to remain even with Hamlin for the following lap. But Reddick made a bold three-wide move on the latter two, sliding in front of Briscoe to lead the next lap. Reddick led the next four laps before Hamlin tried to assume it on Lap 222. Despite leading the latter lap, Reddick reassumed and maintained the top spot up to Lap 250 just as another cycle of green flag pit stops started to occur. During the cycle, Bell led seven laps before he pitted and Reddick cycled back as the leader by Lap 258.
At the Lap 270 mark and with concerns of wet weather looming towards the track, Reddick was leading by more than a second. Briscoe as Hamlin, Gibbs, Larson, Bell, van Gisbergen, Blaney, Logano and Stenhouse were racing in the top 10, respectively. Reddick continued to lead over the next 16 laps before Hamlin assumed the top spot on Lap 287. Hamlin would lead up to Lap 295 before Bell assumed it a lap later. Shortly after, the caution flew and the third stage period concluded under caution.
When the third stage of the Coca-Cola 600 concluded on Lap 300, Bell captured his third Cup stage victory of the 206 season. He won over his teammates Hamlin, Gibbs and Briscoe. Larson, Reddick, van Gisbergen, Keselowski, Blaney and Stenhouse were scored in the top 10. And, 19 of 39 competitors were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s third stage break period, Timmy Hill had his event come to an end as his entry was on fire on the right side of his entry on pit road. Following an extensive caution period to have Hill’s incident cleaned, the lead lap field led by Bell pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Bell exited first ahead of teammates Gibbs and Hamlin while Briscoe dropped to seventh. Reddick and Larson exited in the remaining top-five spots, respectively.
With 88 laps remaining in the Coca-Cola 600, the final stage period commenced as Bell and Gibbs occupied the front row in front of Reddick, Hamlin, Briscoe and Larson. At the start, Gibbs briefly prevailed over Bell from the outside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch before he was pinned in a three-wide battle with Bell and Reddick.
Gibbs managed to fend off the latter two to lead the next lap. He spent the following five laps leading over Reddick, Larson and Bell before the caution returned. This was due to Stenhouse hitting Chastain in the rear, getting the latter loose and sending him spinning down the backstretch and making hard contact with the inside wall. Chastain’s wrecked entry then shot back up the track and was dodged by the field.
During the caution, nearly the entire field returned to pit road for service while Gibbs and van Gisbergen remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson, Bell, Hamlin, Briscoe, Jones, Logano and Zane Smith all exited pit road in front of Reddick following two-tire pit services.
With 74 laps remaining, Gibbs and van Gisbergen led the field to the restart, where van Gisbergen motored ahead through the first two turns. Van Gisbergen maintained a steady lead over Bell for two laps before Briscoe, who was mired in 13th place, bumped and sent Buescher into teammate Preece through the backstretch.
As Buescher spun through the backstretch, Preece and Briscoe collided as Briscoe hit the inside wall head-on while Berry hit Preece’s wrecked entry. During this caution period, some led by Gibbs and including Keselowski, Custer, Allmendinger, Stenhouse, Berry and McDowell pitted while the rest led by van Gisbergen remained on the track.
As the Coca-Cola 600 restarted with 63 laps remaining, Bell managed to outduel van Gisbergen for nearly a full lap as the former motored ahead during the next lap. Bell continued to lead over Hamlin, Reddick, Larson and van Gisbergen before the caution flew with 48 laps remaining due to reports of lightning six miles out of the track. The event, though, was not placed in a lightning hold as the reported lightning was moving away from the track, which kept the field under power and under a cautious pace. During this latest caution period, the field pitted and Suárez utilized a two-tire pit call to exit first ahead of Bell, Hamlin, Larson and Reddick.
When the event restarted with 31 laps remaining, Suárez launched ahead of Bell and Larson through the frontstretch. Suárez maintained the lead for a full lap while Bell was trying to fend off Hamlin for the runner-up spot. Suárez continued to lead in front of Bell and Hamlin over the next three laps before the caution flew due to reports of rain detected through the first two turns.
As the rain increased, the field led by Suárez was directed to pit road and the Coca-Cola 600 was placed in a red flag period for nearly eight minutes. Due to time constraints needed to have the track dried from the rain, the event was ruled official, 27 laps shy of its scheduled distance. As a result, Suárez was declared the winner by being the leader at the time of the event’s official ruling.
With the victory, Suárez notched his third NASCAR Cup Series career win, his first crown-jewel victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since he won at EchoPark Speedway in February 2024. He also achieved the second victory of the 2026 season for Spire Motorsports and the first for crew chief Ryan Sparks.
While celebrating his Coca-Cola 600 victory with his crew, Suárez was overcome with emotions as he dedicated his victory to Kyle Busch, with whom Suárez was teammates in both the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series divisions. Suárez also campaigned in two part-time Craftsman Truck Series seasons with Busch’s team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, and achieved his first victory at Phoenix Raceway in November 2016.
“This [win] really means a lot,” Suárez said on pit road on Prime Video. “I’ve been saying for years that this is my favorite race of the year. I get to have my family here every year. This is most of the time the only race that I get to come. It’s been a very tough week. Kyle [Busch], he was special. This one is for Kyle, for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, for all his family. This is very special. Every win is special, but definitely, this one has a special flavor because of Kyle.
“If it wasn’t for Kyle, I wasn’t going to be an [O’Reilly] champion. I wasn’t going to have my shot in the Cup Series and to be able to win this race for him, it’s unbelievable. The [No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet] team did an amazing job. It wasn’t easy. We had a lot of issues throughout the race, but they put us in contention and we executed well. The car was fast.”
Christopher Bell, who led 44 laps and won the third stage, finished in second place while Denny Hamlin, who led 75 laps and won the second stage, settled in third place. Tyler Reddick, who led a race-high 119 laps, ended up fourth place and Kyle Larson, who led 14 laps and won the first stage, rounded out the top five.
Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron and Zane Smith completed the top 10 in the final running order, respectively.
There were 32 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The event featured 12 cautions for 75 laps. In addition, 20 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 13th event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick leads the standings by 122 points over Denny Hamlin, 174 over Ryan Blaney, 195 over Ty Gibbs and 197 over Chase Elliott.
Results:
- Daniel Suárez, 17 laps led
- Christopher Bell, 44 laps led, Stage 3 winner
- Denny Hamlin, 75 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Tyler Reddick, 119 laps led
- Kyle Larson, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Ty Gibbs, 17 laps led
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- William Byron
- Zane Smith, 31 laps led
- Shane van Gisbergen, 11 laps led
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Erik Jones
- Michael McDowell led three laps
- Brad Keselowski
- Cole Custer
- Alex Bowman
- AJ Allmendinger
- Corey Heim
- Todd Gilliland
- Riley Herbst, one lap down
- Bubba Wallace, one lap down
- Carson Hocevar, one lap down, four laps led
- Noah Gragson, one lap down
- Ty Dillon, one lap down
- John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
- Austin Hill, one lap down
- Cody Ware, two laps down
- Josh Berry, two laps down
- Chris Buescher, six laps down
- Katherine Legge, 12 laps down
- Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident
- Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident, one lap led
- Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led
- Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident, three laps led
- Timmy Hill – OUT, Fire
- Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident
- Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident
- Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 31, and air at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
