Daniel Suarez Drives to First Top-5 Result with Spire Motorsports

Since being reconfigured prior to 2022, EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) has been one of, if not the, best racetrack on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit for Daniel Suarez. That, once again, proved to be true during Sunday's AutoTrader 400.

The native of Monterrey, Mexico, brought his No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 home inside the top-five on Sunday, finishing fifth, after finding himself in contention to steal a victory as the race went to NASCAR Overtime. It's the fifth top-five result for Suarez in nine starts at the 1.54-mile superspeedway, including a triumph in the Spring of 2024.

Leaving the Hampton, Georgia-area with a smile on his face hasn't been abnormal for Suarez the last couple of years, because of his results, but here, it feels different. Despite this being his first top-five with Spire Motorsports, there was still some disappointment in the air following the 400-mile contest.

That's because the 34-year-old driver believed there was a substantial chance to get Spire Motorsports -- or at the very least, a Chevrolet -- into Victory Lane on Sunday, instead of Tyler Reddick, who has now opened the season with back-to-back wins on drafting tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series. But, when fellow Chevrolet driver Shane Van Gisbergen pushed him wide in Turn 4 coming to the white flag, the No. 7 lost touch with his teammate, Ross Chastain.

"Honestly, I thought we were in an amazing spot for that last restart. The No. 77 [Carson Hocevar] was leading the top lane and the No. 1 [Ross Chastain] was in front of me. I thought we were in a beautiful spot to make it work. The No. 97 [Shane Van Gisbergen] was on my left side and pushed me wide. I felt like that broke down the top lane a little bit. I'm not sure, but I feel like we could have done a little bit better. I feel like we gave that one away because we were in the perfect spot."

Suarez would eventually find himself nose-to-tail with his teammate, Carson Hocevar, on the final lap of the race, and the two of them would manage to push through to a fourth and fifth-place finish, marking the second double top-five in the NASCAR Cup Series for Spire Motorsports (the first of which came at Watkins Glen in 2024).

A double top-five finish. pic.twitter.com/Ki81tCvNMF
— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) February 23, 2026

It's a major shot in the arm for both Suarez and Spire Motorsports, as the team continues to showcase an amazing start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign. For Suarez specifically, too, that means he's placed the No. 7 inside the top-five in two events in the first three weeks of the season, having finished fourth-place in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

"But overall, I'm very, very proud of everyone at Spire Motorsports. I couldn't be prouder, honestly. This team just continues to fight, continues to show up and continues to get better. They never doubt that we can make the car better. I can't thank everyone at Chevrolet and the Hendrick Engine Shop enough for the power under the hood. We just need to keep cleaning a few things up to keep getting better, but very excited for the start of the season."

As the series heads to Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the first of four road course events on the schedule, Suarez sits seventh-place in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, and while we're just two events into the season, the Spire Motorsports driver sits 23 points above the cutline.

When the regular-season finishes at Daytona International Speedway in August, several months from now, there will be 16 drivers competing for the Bill France Cup. It's still early, but with runs like this from Suarez and Spire Motorsports, there's no reason to believe they won't at least contend for a spot in the post-season.