CONCORD, N.C. — This time a year ago, it was crystal clear that Daniel Suarez was going to be searching for a ride for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Fast forward to the here and now, the new driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet is a Coca-Cola 600 champion, as he was the leader of Sunday night’s race when rain pelted the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and forced the end of the event 27 laps shy of the scheduled distance.
Race Results: 2026 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
Sure, every win is special, but the Coca-Cola 600 holds a special place in Suarez’s heart.
“This one really means a lot. I’ve been saying for years, this is my favorite race of the year. You know, I get to have my family here every year. This is the only race they all get to come,” Suarez said, holding back tears.
While it was a weather-impacted victory, in which Suarez gained the lead on a pit strategy call late in the race, the driver had to fight hard for the win in the final laps of the night. The 34-year-old racer had to fend off a trio of Toyota drivers, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick, who were the class of the field all night long.
Incredibly, he was able to keep them at bay on a Lap 360 restart. However, when a caution for weather came out on Lap 361, and forced another restart on Lap 370, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Bell or Hamlin would get back by for the lead. They tried, but were unable to pull off the pass, and Suarez held on as the rain fell for the last time on Lap 374.
This marks the third career win for Suarez, and for Spire Motorsports, which came into the season with only one victory in the team’s history, now has two victories in its last four starts, as Carson Hocevar won at Talladega Superspeedway four races ago.
With many of the drivers battling within the top-16 of the championship standings, Suarez was able to vault four spots forward from 14th to 10th.
And a win by Suarez seems like a fitting end to an emotional week, where the NASCAR world suffered the loss of Kyle Busch, who died on Thursday at the age of 41 following a bout with severe pneumonia, which progressed into sepsis. When Suarez came to America to chase his dreams of becoming a NASCAR Cup Series driver, Busch would call the young driver on a weekly basis to give him advice on how to improve.
11 years later, Suarez collected a victory in a NASCAR crown jewel race.
“It’s been a really tough week. You know, Kyle, he was special, man,” Suarez said, choking back tears. “This one’s for Kyle. For Samantha. For Brexton. For Lennix. For all of his family.”
The win is also fitting as Spire Motorsports runs its operation out of Busch’s former Kyle Busch Motorsports shop in Mooresville, NC. Busch, who was scheduled to compete in this week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at Charlotte with Spire Motorsports, secured his 234th and final NASCAR National Series win with Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway last weekend.
Bell, who has suffered from a rough-luck season so far, had another bit of rough luck as rain ended his chance to get by Suarez for the win early, but a runner-up finish is what Bell needed to stop the bleeding from a rash of DNFs.
Hamlin would collect a third-place finish, while Reddick would notch a fourth-place result.
While the majority of the Toyota entries in the field snagged solid finishes, it was a heartbreaking defeat for the manufacturer, which led 255 of the 373 laps on the night.
“Yeah, obviously, a great day for the Toyotas in general. We were all really, really fast, and all of our cars had shots at some point,” Hamlin explained. “Man, we have planned all day to get our car right for the last 50 [laps], and I just felt really confident that those last few restarts I could really get some speed going. It was just a matter of who could clear between me and [Bell], and we couldn’t clear each other, and it would buy [Suarez] some extra time.”
Hamlin continued, “It was really unfortunate. But rain, nothing we can do about it.”
Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Zane Smith rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
Austin Hill, who stepped into Kyle Busch’s race car for Sunday’s race, a car that Richard Childress Racing renumbered from No. 8 to No. 33, came home with a 27th-place finish. While it wasn’t a spectacular showing, Hill didn’t make any glaring mistakes all race long, and was able to finish just one lap down.
Katherine Legge, who became the first female competitor to ever compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, recorded a 31st-place result, and she finished 12 laps off the pace after having a wheel fly off after an early-race pit stop.
With the Coca-Cola 600 in the rear view mirror, the NASCAR community will focus on the healing process following the unexpected death of the legendary Kyle Busch, who amassed an all-time record 234 wins across the three NASCAR National Series divisions. Sunday’s race was already a big step in the healing process, as the Busch family was honored in a ceremony during the pre-race festivities.
With Busch’s widow, Samantha, their children, Brexton and Lennix, Busch’s parents, Tom and Gaye, and Busch’s brother Kurt sitting alongside NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell, O’Donnell vowed that the NASCAR family would take care of the Busch family as they navigate the aftermath of a tragedy.
