NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona International Speedway
Coke Zero Sugar 400
Team Chevy Post-Race Report
August 29, 2026
Suarez Leads Chevrolet to Runner-Up Result in a Dramatic Overtime Finish at Daytona
Five Team Chevy Drivers Set to Compete for 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Championship
RACE RECAP:
Stage One:
Recording his first career pole at “The World Center of Racing”, Ross Chastain and the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet team led the NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag of the regular season finale. A strong start by the Florida native saw the No. 1 top the leaderboard for the opening lap of Stage One, but it was his Team Chevy teammate, Kyle Larson, that turned a 10th-place qualifying effort into a battle for the lead within just two laps around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. While early in the run saw a shuffle of different leaders, the superspeedway king – Austin Hill – capitalized on a burst of momentum to take his turn at the point of the field just prior to the halfway point of the stage. While the closing laps of the stage saw Chastain try to build the bottom lane into a run for the lead, it was the Hill-led top lane that continued to take charge of the lead pack. But dicey moves among the leaders saw Chris Buescher make a brief appearance at the lead to take the white flag of the stage. While it looked like Buescher was going to take the stage win, contact saw the No. 17 spin just before the start-finish line, ultimately opening up the door for Shane van Gisbergen to maneuver his No. 97 Chevrolet to the lead to capture the all important 10 stage points.
Stage Two:
A two-position gain in the race off pit road kept Hill in the top-10 for the start of Stage Two. But to no surprise, the Georgia native put his speedway prowess on full display – making his way back to the top of the leaderboard within the first three laps of the stage. By the midway point of the stage, it was a mix bag of new faces at the front of the pack, including Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who made an impressive charge through the the field from a 24th-place finish in the opening stage to the top of the leaderboard to pace his first laps of the evening. With 13 laps to go in the stage, the Penske teammates found each other on the bottom lane to make a run at the front of the pack. While stellar moves put Elliott back to the lead in the closing laps, typical last-lap efforts saw his teammate, William Byron, shake out in the fourth position to lead the Bowtie brigade to the end of Stage Two.
Final Stage:
Austin Dillon reached his highest running position thus far of the race when he cycled up into the seventh position to lead Chevrolet to the green flag of the final stage. While familiar faces quickly returned to the front of the pack, a fellow ECR-powered Chevrolet of Cody Ware entered the picture – adding his name to the laps led category with 40 laps to go just prior to the start of a green flag pit cycle. Shortly thereafter, a pack of Chevrolet drivers dove to pit road to make an early start of a green flag pit cycle, with the group returning to the track with 38 laps to go. The strategy saw a trio of Hendrick Motorsports-powered Chevrolet’s take over the command position and continue to stretch their fuel mileage until receiving the call to hit pit road for a quick fuel-only stop with 17 remaining. With the second group hitting pit road, the leaderboard saw a pair of Spire Motorsports Chevrolet’s at the front of the Bowtie brigade as they hovered around the top-five as the race hit a single-digit countdown. While taking a shot at the lead, Hocevar remained in a tight battle among the top-five before losing control of his No. 77 to bring out the caution and set up for an overtime finish. In typical superspeedway fashion, an overtime finish saw chaos ensue throughout the field with a multi-car incident midway through the pack. For the second-consecutive Daytona summer race, it was Daniel Suarez that survived to claim a runner-up finish.
Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 Results
Pos. Driver
2nd – Daniel Suarez
4th – Michael McDowell
5th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
7th – Austin Dillon
8th – Alex Bowman
10th – Cole Custer
Chevrolet’s season statistics with 26 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:
Wins: 6
Poles: 6
Top-Fives: 43
Top 10s: 89
Stage Wins: 18
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase will get underway at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, September 6, at 5 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 24th
“Our Wendy’s Watermelon Lemonade Chevrolet was pretty loose tonight. We worked on it throughout the race but it was tough in traffic. Unfortunately, we ended the night with a damaged car but I’m looking forward to Darlington next weekend. It’s one of my favorite race tracks.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 7th
“Really proud of the entire No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Deer Season XP Chevrolet team at Daytona International Speedway, but we still have some work to do on speedway racing. It was pretty tough out there tonight. Track position does seem to be key with this package. Our Chevy was tight on exit to Turn 4 to start the race, but still very drive-able. In the final stage crew chief Richard Boswell had us pit early and it helped give us the fuel and track position needed to go home with a Top-10 finish.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 2nd
“We had a really fast No. 7 Coke Zero Sugar Chevrolet. We were so close, two years in a row with a second-place finish. I’m super proud of everyone at Spire Motorsports. All the men and women have worked really hard on these racecars. The power under the hood from the Hendrick Engine Department has been incredible. All my teammates, we got to race together for a little bit. We were so close, man. I feel like if we got to race all the way to the end, we were going to have a shot at it.
Super happy and proud to make it to the Chase with this team. This team deserves it. I feel like in the past, I’ve had runs in the postseason where I didn’t think we were strong enough to really contend. But this team deserves to be in the Chase. We are a Chase team. There’s so many people and partners that have helped us get here and put this kind of performance together.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 23rd
“It’s all eyes on Darlington (Raceway) now. We got through tonight. We had a couple shining spots, I feel like. We led some laps and we were in an okay spot there a time or two. We got caught out there on the strategy there at the end, and I felt like we were in a lot of trouble there pretty quickly. Unfortunately, that ended up being true; we got behind and the caution came out. Hopefully, we can put this one behind us, reset for next weekend – have a good week of preparation and get ready to start the Chase at Darlington.”
Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 27th
“Our Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet was really fast tonight and I wish the finishing result showed that. Just missed the mark a bit tonight with strategy. We had a great qualifying effort with us starting third, and after the green, we quickly got to the lead. The car was way too loose to make moves with the steering wheel and I couldn’t make the hard turns to block the runs at the end of that stage. We made good adjustments, drove back forward, and finished inside the top-10 at the end of Stage 2. We pitted with five other cars under green in the last stage, and unfortunately, we came off pit road last of the group and ended up losing the draft. A timely caution let us get our lap back for the overtime finish, but there wasn’t enough time to make up ground. Proud of all the prep the guys put in to bring a fast car to the track.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 5th
“It wasn’t a pretty day for the No. 47 Onin Staffing Chevrolet team. We stuck to our strategy of riding around. I felt like the strategy that we had there in the final stage with the No. 1 (Ross Chastain), No. 3 (Austin Dillon), No. 41 (Cole Custer), No. 88 (Connor Zilisch) and the No. 33 (Austin Hill) was the strategy to win the race. We were catching the lead pack. I felt like the four of us were going to race it out if it went green, but the caution didn’t help us and it helped those guys make it on fuel. Obviously, they didn’t let us race back to the line, which at the DAYTONA 500, they did, so it’s kind of disappointing. Other than that, it’s cool to get a top-five. That’s a positive for us and what our team needed after the last few weeks.”
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 4th
“We just needed a couple hundred feet more there at the end. I don’t think I would have won, but I think Daniel (Suarez) would have had a shot. We had a good run, and I had just picked him up when the caution came out. The timing was unfortunate, but you know how these races end here (at Daytona International Speedway). If you make it to the finish line, you feel very fortunate. I’m proud of everyone at Spire Motorsports to get two of the three cars into the Chase. To have a strong night like we did tonight and get two Spire Chevrolet’s in the top-five is a great run.”
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 38th
He did a good job at Talladega with your win. It was looking like it was shaping up for that here in Daytona, but a big moment in the turn three. Did it catch you off guard or was it that edge you could drive all night?
“Yeah, I was always super tight behind people, it seemed. And so, I just changed from top to bottom there and that was the first time I really got a ton of air on my nose into three and I just lost it. It just kept going. I had the wheel straight, man, it just kept going with all the air and something down on the nose. I’m shocked that it did that. It caught me off guard, for sure. It was nice to ride around all day like we’d kind of planned, and then we gave ourselves a shot to win it at the end. We were up front, had track position and led laps, and that’s all I can really ask for from a team standpoint. Overall, I thought we did a pretty good job here tonight.”
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 28th
“It’s pretty fresh now, but congratulations to the No. 60 (Ryan Preece). One night doesn’t sum up the year for this No. 97 Red Bull Chevrolet team. We just weren’t good enough tonight, but it’s been cool to be this close. Bit of the regular season has been good, but as a team, obviously we’ve struggled. But I’m proud that I’ve been able to match my teammates on the ovals. I think I’ve stepped it up this year. Obviously, you want to be in the Chase, but we were just short.”
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