Race report
NASCAR Cup Charlotte
Daniel Suarez earns shock win in rain-shortened Coca Cola 600
With an epic defense at the front, Suarez came out of nowhere to win Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 as the race was called for weather with 27 laps to go
Nick DeGroot
Edited: May 25, 2026, 6:54 AM
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Daniel Suarez wins, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: Jonathan Bachman - Getty Images
For the first time in 82 races, Daniel Suarez is back in Victory Lane, winning one of the biggest races on the schedule.
After crew chief Ryan Sparks gambled with a two-tire call, Suarez did an incredible job holding off a fleet of Toyota drivers through multiple restarts before rain finally ended the race, 27 laps short of the full 600-mile distance.
This is Suarez's third career win, and his first in over two years.
Watch: Suárez wins Coca-Cola 600, salutes Kyle Busch
Christopher Bell finished second, Denny Hamlin third, Tyler Reddick fourth, and Kyle Larson fifth.
Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Zane Smith filled out the remainder of the top ten.
"It really means a lot," said Suarez on the win. "It really means a lot. I've been saying for years this is my favorite race of the year. I get to have my family here every year. This is most of the time the only race I get to come.
"It's been a very tough week. Kyle, he was special, man. This one is for Kyle. For Kyle, for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, all his family."
An emotional Suarez reflected further, adding: "This win is for him (Busch). If it wasn't for Kyle, I wasn't going to be an Xfinity champion. I wasn't going to have my shot in the Cup series. To win this race for him is unbelievable."
Watch: Suárez in Victory Lane: 'We won it for Kyle'
Stage 1
After an emotional pre-race with the entire Busch family present, the race got underway.
Reddick held the top spot, and there was a breakaway with him and Gibbs at the front.
On Lap 35, Berry went for a spin, triggering the first yellow. Not long after that, there was a gnarly crash with Austin Cindric spinning down the track, and collecting Connor Zilisch. Neither driver was able to continue.
During that yellow, defending Coke 600 winner Ross Chastain stayed out and inherited the race. Despite only roughly 15 laps on the tires, the pace was just too much and he quickly faded through the field.
Bubba Wallace also made contact with Byron on the restart, hitting the wall and damaging his car. He had to pit under green and the No. 23 wasn't really competitive for the rest of the day.
Z. Smith, who opted for two-tires during the Cindric/Zilisch caution, took the lead and held it for a while.
The next caution was for Chase Elliott, who crashed heavily on the backstretch. This set-up a mad dash to the end of the stage.
Larson won Stage 1 over Briscoe, Reddick, Hamlin, Jones, Blaney, Gibbs, Preece, Stenhouse, and Shane van Gisbergen.
Stage 2 and Stage 3
The next two stages were incredibly clean, and the Toyotas dominated. Briscoe led the way for a bit before Hamlin took over. Then we saw our first round of green-flag pit stops with no drama.
Suarez had to make an unscheduled pit stop for the second time in the first two stages as he complained about a vibration. We also learned that Bowman was struggling with a transaxle issue, and did not have first or second gear.
At the very end of the stage, several cars started to slow with flat tires, but Hamlin was not one of them.
Hamlin won Stage 2 over Gibbs, Briscoe, Reddick, Larson, Bell, Blaney, Buescher, Van Gisbergen, and Stenhouse.
There were just 17 cars on the lead lap as the race moved into Stage 3. The next caution was for Double-hopeful Katherine Legge. After crashing to avoid a more serious wreck 18 laps into the Indianapolis 500, she lost a right-front wheel and triggered a full-course yellow, but remained in the race.
On the restart, Reddick made a bold three-wide pass for the lead as the championship leader eyed another crown jewel.
Hamlin eventually took it back as we transitioned back into another round of green-flag pit stops. Bell ran six laps longer than the other leaders, setting him up to be charging at the end of the stage.
A thrilling five-way battle for the lead formed in the closing laps of the stage, and they were all Toyota drivers. After a brilliant back-and-forth battle, Bell emerged with the lead while Reddick -- who was leading, dropped like a stone after using up his tires.
Bell won Stage 3 over Gibbs, Briscoe, Larson, Reddick, Van Gisbergen, Keselowski, Blaney, and Stenhouse.
Stage 4
There was a bit of a delay in opening the pits, after Timmy Hill's No. 66 car erupted in flames and smoke, ending his night.
Gibbs got the lead on the ensuing restart, but defending winner Coke 600 winner Chastain got turned from behind by Ricky Stenhouse Jr, slamming the inside wall.
This led to a big split in strategy, as Gibbs and Van Gisbergen chose to stay out. Larson led another group that took two tires, while Reddick led those who put on four fresh ones.
Van Gisbergen actually took the lead on the restart, and another major crash broke out behind them. Briscoe hooked Buescher into Preece, destroying all three cars. Berry also got a piece of it.
After a lengthy cleanup, the race resumed, and Bell cleared Van Gisbergen. SVG faded, but slowly.
Up front, Hamlin tried to chase down Bell with Reddick right behind them.
A. Dillon slammed the wall and went to the garage, but the incident did not require a caution.
After a single lightning strike six miles away, NASCAR displayed the caution, but did not halt the race. The field pitted, and Suarez took the lead with a two-tire call.
The race resumed with 41 laps to go, and Suarez held the lead surprisingly well. He pulled a mighty block on Bell, and the caution then flew for light raindrops in the area.
After a lot of stop-and-go, the race got back underway, but the Toyota drivers were fighting so hard against themselves, and it allowed Suarez to get away.
Suddenly, the rain returned and the race was red-flagged. It had intensified, and NASCAR decided that they should call the race.
Watch: Bell reacts to runner-up finish at Charlotte
RACE
All Stats
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Pits Points Retirement 1 D. Suarez Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 373
4:37'07.572
17 55 2 C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 373
+0.610
4:37'08.182
0.610 16 50 3 D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 373
+0.611
4:37'08.183
0.001 14 60 4 T. Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 373
+2.056
4:37'09.628
1.445 14 53 5 K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 373
+3.424
4:37'10.996
1.368 14 54 6 T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing 54 Toyota 373
+4.116
4:37'11.688
0.692 14 53 7 R. Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 373
+5.453
4:37'13.025
1.337 14 41 8 J. Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 373
+7.901
4:37'15.473
2.448 14 29 9 W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 373
+8.611
4:37'16.183
0.710 15 28 10 Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 373
+9.170
4:37'16.742
0.559 15 27 11 S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing 97 Chevrolet 373
+10.323
4:37'17.895
1.153 13 33 12 R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports 47 Chevrolet 373
+10.614
4:37'18.186
0.291 16 29 13 E. Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Toyota 373
+10.656
4:37'18.228
0.042 16 30 14 M. McDowell Spire Motorsports 71 Chevrolet 373
+10.657
4:37'18.229
0.001 16 23 15 B. Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 373
+12.634
4:37'20.206
1.977 17 25 16 C. Custer Haas Factory Team 41 Chevrolet 373
+13.360
4:37'20.932
0.726 16 21 17 A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 373
+15.136
4:37'22.708
1.776 14 20 18 A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 373
+15.737
4:37'23.309
0.601 16 19 19
C. Heim 23XI Racing
67 Toyota 373
+16.181
4:37'23.753
0.444 15 20 T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 373
+19.601
4:37'27.173
3.420 17 17 21 R. Herbst 23XI Racing 35 Toyota 372
+1 Lap
4:37'21.885
1 Lap 15 16 22 B. Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 372
+1 Lap
4:37'24.537
2.652 16 15 23 C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 372
+1 Lap
4:37'24.695
0.158 16 14 24 N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports 4 Ford 372
+1 Lap
4:37'25.503
0.808 15 13 25 T. Dillon Kaulig Racing 10 Chevrolet 372
+1 Lap
4:37'26.052
0.549 15 12 26 J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club 42 Toyota 372
+1 Lap
4:37'26.568
0.516 16 11 27 A. Hill Richard Childress Racing 33 Chevrolet 372
+1 Lap
4:37'27.669
1.101 14 28 C. Ware Rick Ware Racing 51 Chevrolet 371
+2 Laps
4:37'31.391
1 Lap 15 9 29
J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing
21 Ford 371
+2 Laps
4:37'33.664
2.273 25 8 30 C. Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 367
+6 Laps
4:37'32.847
4 Laps 16 10 31 K. Legge Live Fast Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 361
+12 Laps
4:37'32.018
6 Laps 16 6 32 A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 338
+35 Laps
4:04'15.591
23 Laps 12 5 Accident 33 R. Preece RFK Racing 60 Ford 328
+45 Laps
3:48'42.301
10 Laps 12 7 Accident 34 C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 328
+45 Laps
3:48'42.508
0.207 12 27 Accident 35 R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 317
+56 Laps
3:35'06.382
11 Laps 10 2 Accident 36 T. Hill Garage 66 66 Ford 291
+82 Laps
3:14'59.260
26 Laps 13 Fire 37 C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 89
+284 Laps
57'13.717
202 Laps 5 1 Accident 38 A. Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 52
+321 Laps
31'24.376
37 Laps 3 1 Accident 39
C. Zilisch TrackHouse Racing
88 Chevrolet 52
+321 Laps
31'26.972
2.596 4 1 Accident View full results
Photos from Charlotte - Race
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
Charlotte - Sunday, in photos
NASCAR Cup
21
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