Daniel Suárez Tops Chase Elliott, Leads ASA STARS Final Practice

Daniel Suarez ASA STARS National Tour North Wilkesboro practice Chase Elliott William Byron — Daniel Suárez paced the final practice session for the ASA STARS National Tour event at North Wilkesboro Speedway, as he beat out fellow NASCAR stars Chase Elliott and William Byron. Photo Credit: Jonathan McCoy / TobyChristie.com

There will be a lot of NASCAR flavor baked into the starting fields for the companion events to this weekend’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series races at North Wilkesboro Speedway, as NASCAR drivers are trying to get as many laps on the 0.625-mile short track, which has been off the NASCAR schedule since 1996.

Daniel Suárez has to be feeling confident about things as he paced ASA STARS National Tour final practice at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and he beat out fellow NASCAR Cup Series racers Chase Elliott (-0.044 sec.) and William Byron (-0.109 sec.).

Suárez turned an 18.934 sec. lap around the iconic short track, which equates to a 118.834 mph average speed.

Behind the NASCAR trio of Suárez, Elliott, and Byron was Bubba Pollard, regarded as one of the best short-track racers in the country, and Matt Craig rounded out the top-five fastest in the session.

Other NASCAR drivers were sprinkled throughout the results sheet in practice.

Carson Hocevar was sixth, Conner Jones was seventh, Noah Gragson was eighth, Sammy Smith was 17th, Derek Kraus was 18th, Erik Jones ranked 25th, Grant Enfinger clocked in 27th, Johnny Sauter was 29th, Ty Majeski was 40th, and Chandler Smith ranked 46th in the 52-car final practice session.

Full Results From ASA STARS National Tour Final Practice at North Wilkesboro

Pos	No.	Driver	Lap time	Diff	Speed	Laps	Best Lap
1	99	Daniel Suarez	18.934	--	118.834	25	2
2	9e	Chase Elliott	18.978	0.044	118.558	19	19
3	24b	William Byron	19.043	0.109	118.154	11	10
4	26p	Bubba Pollard	19.083	0.149	117.906	20	20
5	54	Matt Craig	19.089	0.155	117.869	11	10
6	14h	Carson Hocevar	19.103	0.169	117.783	19	18
7	44j	Conner Jones	19.103	0.169	117.783	10	9
8	30	Noah Gragson	19.107	0.173	117.758	23	22
9	35	Kaden Kvapil	19.115	0.181	117.709	12	10
10	51f	Jake Finch	19.120	0.186	117.678	20	20
11	2s	William Sawalich	19.124	0.190	117.653	17	15
12	7t	Derek Thorn	19.144	0.210	117.530	28	16
13	7c	Justin Crider	19.183	0.249	117.291	18	13
14	12	Derek Griffith	19.201	0.267	117.181	6	2
15	33f	Albert Francis	19.208	0.274	117.139	2	2
16	44d	Jeremy Doss	19.214	0.280	117.102	22	3
17	22s	Sammy Smith	19.217	0.283	117.084	15	2
18	9k	Derek Kraus	19.230	0.296	117.005	7	4
19	51n	Stephen Nasse	19.231	0.297	116.999	15	4
20	20s	Anthony Sergi	19.236	0.302	116.968	17	15
21	9h	Hudson Halder	19.240	0.306	116.944	7	5
22	65	Tyler Tanner	19.254	0.320	116.859	12	2
23	58c	Rich Clouser	19.256	0.322	116.847	22	3
24	45	Kodie Conner	19.256	0.322	116.847	15	14
25	4	Erik Jones	19.270	0.336	116.762	13	5
26	23	Billy VanMeter	19.280	0.346	116.701	16	9
27	32	Grant Enfinger	19.282	0.348	116.689	17	16
28	28b	Cole Butcher	19.298	0.364	116.592	14	14
29	5	Johnny Sauter	19.317	0.383	116.478	17	17
30	98	Blaine Rocha	19.321	0.387	116.454	23	5
31	69	Michael Hinde	19.323	0.389	116.436	8	1
32	50	Jett Noland	19.324	0.390	116.411	17	17
33	74	Ryan Moore	19.328	0.394	116.351	18	1
34	22r	Giovanni Ruggiero	19.338	0.404	116.351	20	20
35	112	Augie Grill	19.348	0.414	116.291	38	3
36	24d	Mason Diaz	19.365	0.431	116.189	10	3
37	47	Dakota Stroup	19.390	0.456	116.039	16	3
38	2j	John Bolen	19.391	0.457	116.033	20	17
39	33s	Dustin Smith	19.414	0.480	115.869	11	5
40	91	Ty Majeski	19.465	0.531	115.592	18	1
41	14n	Austin Nason	19.472	0.538	115.551	20	19
42	2m	Michael Bilderback	19.487	0.553	115.462	--	1
43	90	Ryan Strimka	19.539	0.605	115.154	--	3
44	28w	Dusty Williams	19.547	0.613	115.107	--	4
45	18h	Hunter Robbins	19.583	0.649	114.896	--	17
46	26s	Chandler Smith	19.635	0.701	114.591	--	28
47	18c	Casey Roderick	19.670	0.736	114.387	--	2
48	8	Tony Elrod	19.696	0.762	114.236	--	5
49	24c	Dylan Caldwell	19.712	0.778	114.144	--	26
50	97	Dylan Garner	19.792	0.858	113.682	--	11
51	20h	Harrison Halder	19.815	0.881	113.550	--	3
52	58j	John Coffman	20.187	1.253	111.458	--	2

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Toby Christie

Toby is the Founder, and Editor-in-Chief of TobyChristie.com. Toby is also the co-host of The Final Lap Weekly Podcast. Additionally, he is an award-winning writer, and has followed the sport as a fan since 1993.