Suárez Wins Emotional Coke 600

It was a weekend unlike any felt in the NASCAR world since week two of the 2001 season — the immediate aftermath of the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt in a crash in turn four on the last lap of the Daytona 500. This past Thursday, the stock car racing community, already still in the throes of Greg Biffle’s passing in a plane crash back in December, was shaken to the core when news broke that two-time champion Kyle Busch had passed away suddenly after a battle with pneumonia that led to hospitalization and an eventual fatal case of sepsis.

There were few figures as polarizing as Busch in the sport’s recent history — except maybe the aforementioned Earnhardt. Kyle came onto the scene as a fiery teenager, going on to become one of the greatest to ever strap into the seat of a stock car. In addition to his 2015 and 2019 NASCAR Cup Series titles, he amassed 235 wins, which is the most victories in history across all three national touring circuits — the Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts (where he also won a championship), and Craftsman Truck Series.

Many loved him. Many others could not have booed him any more loudly without busting a blood vessel in their temple. But if there is one thing that stands out about the passionate fans of NASCAR, it is that regardless of what they think of a driver, when one passes away or experiences a harrowing injury/near-death experience, they know when to set opinions aside and acknowledge that there are things far more important than racing. That was put on full display all weekend long.

Despite mother nature’s strongest efforts to put a literal dampener on the weekend and questions as to whether or not the race should even happen, the show went on. Much like the week after Dale Sr passed, the race rolled on — and if you ask me, Kyle Busch, having been the competitor he is, would have wanted it no other way.

The weekend got off to a wet start, postponing the Craftsman Truck Series race three times — eventually being run Sunday morning with Layne Riggs earning his third win of the season in a time limit-shortened event. The persistent rain also ended up canceling practice and qualifying for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, as well as nixing qualifying and most of Cup Series practice. Ross Chastain went on to pick up his third career NOAPS victory and first with JR Motorsports in a race that was shortened by thick fog and mist that was making the track conditions too dangerous while our own Jeremy Clements came home in 30th position.

As far as the Cup Series goes, due to the cancellation of qualifying, Tyler Reddick was awarded the pole with Ty Gibbs also starting on the front row. Shane Van Gisbergen would start P3, Michael McDowell in fourth, and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five. Other notables include Ryan Blaney rolling off sixth, Denny Hamlin in 11th position, Austin Hill (filling Kyle Busch’s place in the newly re-numbered 33 car) 13th, Chase Elliott in 16th, Christopher Bell 17th, Kyle Larson 18th, Carson Hocevar 23rd, Ross Chastain 27th, William Byron 31st, Joey Logano 33rd, and Katherine Legge — who was attempting the Indianapolis 500/Coke 600 “double” starting 37th.

After an emotional pre-race in which Samantha Busch — wife of the late Kyle, and Brexton, Busch’s 11-year old son, shared a tear-invoking embrace followed by hall of famer Kurt — older brother of Kyle, laying 8 flowers around Busch’s number painted on the infield grass during a moment of silence with the entire field gathered behind them, the action got underway.

Reddick held his edge by as much as half a second on Ty Gibbs for 36 laps before Josh Berry got loose and rubbed his back bumper on the outside wall after going around in turn two, which would produce some major chaos 15 laps later when Austin Cindric lost the back end, hit the wall and came back to the apron where he bounced back up into traffic and was slammed by Connor Zilisch in a violent crash that left the #2 car destroyed and Zilisch going to the garage with a missing right front shock absorber.

Chase Elliott would bring out the third caution of the day when he also got loose in turn two and ended up going nose first into the inside wall. The ensuing damage was enough to end his night after a brief assessment in the garage. The race went back green with 6 laps to go in the opening stage, and on the restart, Kyle Larson made an aggressive move that has become a bit of a trademark for him, splitting the gap to go three wide in the first two turns. The move paid off as he was able to get side by side with Denny Hamlin for the lead and clear him a lap later, cruising to a huge stage win.

Stage two was much less chaotic save for some issues on pit road and the concerning issue of right front tires getting worn to the point of cording. A lap into the second stage, Larson lost the lead to Chase Briscoe, but over time one factor that is critical for an endurance race like the Coca-Cola 600 showed itself — long run speed, which Denny Hamlin had plenty of. Eventually he was able to work his way to the front and dominated his way to a win in a stage that was green all the way.

The third stage was full of more lengthy green flag runs. The only yellow to fly during it came early on when Katherine Legge lost her right front tire. After the ensuing restart, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe slowed each other up, allowing Tyler Reddick to reclaim the lead for the 2nd time when he dove to the bottom and cleared both of them through turns three and four. In the end Christopher Bell overcame a slow pit stop at the stage break while once again the 45 of Reddick dropped off due to lack of long run speed.

Ty Gibbs would lead the field to the green to start the final stage, which was delayed an extra three laps due to a fire on Timmy Hill’s car on pit road. That blaze ended his night and was caused by rubber buildup on the rocker panel that got ignited by the exhaust — a common issue in the NextGen era, particularly in Fords. Ross Chastain later brought out another yellow when he spun off turn four and crashed hard into the inside wall at lap 318. About ten laps later, a racing incident on the backstretch went wrong as Chase Briscoe went to the bottom to try and get under Chris Buescher, who threw a block in anticipation after Briscoe had already committed to the move. That caused him to clip the 17 and send him into the outside wall, collecting Ryan Preece and Josh Berry along the way.

Prior to the Buescher-Briscoe incident, Shane Van Gisbergen, who impressively collected stage points in all three in this race, moved into the lead on the restart at lap 327 after getting into position on a pit road gamble in which both he and Ty Gibbs stayed out. Many others that did pit strategized to take two tires while SVG and Ty would go through the next restart on eight lap older tires.

In the end, Van Gisbergen was unable to hang on, losing the lead to Christopher Bell going into turn three on lap 338, but held on to a top 5 spot while Gibbs dropped back to the eighth position by the time Mother Nature at last made her presence known with a caution for lightning in the area at lap 352. There would be no mandatory 30 minute lightning hold as the race meteorologist determined that it was moving the opposite direction and far enough away to not be a concern.

Instead, the teams came in for caution flag stops. Daniel Suarez came off with the lead after a strategy call to change just the right side tires with the knowledge rain was coming. He held the edge over Bell through the restart before a light rain in turn two did cause another slowdown with 39 laps remaining. The field was brought down pit road after about 5 laps or so under caution to dry the track before they tried to resume, but after Suárez once again beat Bell on the restart in spite of the tire difference, the race would make it just about 5 more laps.

Once again the rain kicked up with 27 laps to go. That prompted race control to bring the field back to pit road, and after a short deliberation, the race was called, declaring Suárez the winner.

This crown jewel in the trophy case marked Suárez’s third career Cup Series win, first victory of the season, and subsequently first win since edging Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney in one of the closest finishes in the history of the sport at Atlanta in February 2024. It was also the second win of the season for Spire Motorsports — who coincidentally/fittingly runs their operations from what used to be Kyle Busch Motorsports’ (KBM) shop.

“The first thing that came to my mind was Kyle”, said Suárez after the win. “It has been a difficult week for all of us. Drivers, team owners, media, fans. Most importantly, his family. I was still hoping that someone would tell me that it wasn’t real. There were so many emotions. I didn’t feel like I was ready to drive when I got in the car today. It was hard to see Samantha, Brexton, Lennix {Busch’s 4-year old daughter}, Kurt, and my fellow competitors crying. We lost a legend and most importantly, we lost a friend. It has been difficult. But, I am so glad Spire Motorsports and the 7 team was able to win it for him. Kyle helped me so much through the Xfinity Series, and that led to me having a Cup opportunity. This is no coincidence. The stars aligned today.”

“It was not easy”, said Suárez when asked about how he won this race aside from the strategy call, weather, and some luck. “We had a loose wheel, we had a flat tire, we had everything. We had so much adversity. But, I knew my car was very fast. I know I had a fast car yesterday {in practice}. We just never got a chance to show it {in qualifying}. This one means a lot because we have put so much into this. Hopefully this momentum can carry over for the next several weeks and we can keep having fun. But this week is not about us. It is about Kyle and his family, and I am super proud to have been able to get it done for him.”

This win had even more emotion and meaning attached to it when you consider the relationship Daniel had with Kyle, who mentored Suárez during his rise through the Xfinity (O’Reilly) Series and into the Cup ranks.

“Back in 2015, Kyle and I got together every week”, said Daniel. “He was helping me to understand what to look for and understand the race track. Back then we did not have SMT data. We had to learn by feel. If you had experience, you had an advantage. He did not have to take the time to help me. He didn’t have to help this Mexican kid that can barely speak English. He was already a legend of the sport and he took the time every single week to help me. Most people didn’t know that side of him. I did. He made me want to be like him and help others; to give a hand to other young drivers.”

Among the rest of the finishing order, Christopher Bell came in second, Denny Hamlin was third, Reddick was fourth, and Larson rounded out the top five. Gibbs hung on for a top 10, coming in P6 while Blaney notched a 7th, Joey Logano eighth, Byron ninth, and Zane Smith tenth. Shane Van Gisbergen just missed the top ten, but earned his best finish on what was also his best-ever run on an oval, being scored 11th followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr while Brad Keselowski finished 15th.

Outside of the top fifteen, Alex Bowman placed 17th, Bubba Wallace 22nd, Carson Hocevar 23rd, Austin Hill 27th, Chase Briscoe 34th, Ross Chastain 35th, Chase Elliott 37th, and Connor Zilisch 39th.

With the first half of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season in the books, the second half will begin next week at Nashville Superspeedway with the Cracker Barrel 400. Green flag is scheduled to wave at 7:00 PM with the television broadcast available via streaming only on Amazon Prime.