Prospect Review: New Smyrna & Daytona
Suarez’s Stock Soars As Strong Run Continues In 2014
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the first 22 races of Daniel Suàrez’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East career, the Mexican youngster failed to move the needle in the performance category. In the first six events of the 2013 season, his first in the Rev Racing stable, he averaged a 14.8-place finish and registered a 0.000 Production in Equal Equipment Rating (PEER) – he was essentially a non-starter on the results sheets – but in the second half of the season, a light switch was flipped. Ever since, Suàrez has resembled a legitimate Sprint Cup Series prospect.
In the final eight races of 2013, he averaged a 4.5-place finish – an improvement of 10 positions with the same team and equipment – that resulted in a PEER of 5.938 across the span. He ended 2013 as the division’s second-most productive driver, per PEER (a rating of 3.250, trailing only Dylan Kwasniewski’s 4.133).
After the first two races of the 2014 K&N East season at New Smyrna Speedway and on the Battle at the Beach course at Daytona International Speedway, he holds a pair of dominant victories. Dating back to last June’s race at Langley Speedway, he earned eight top-three finishes in 10 races.
So what changed? Suàrez insists his booming efflorescence is the result of improved communication with key team members Skip Eyler (crew chief) and Phil Warren (spotter and driver coach).
“English is my second language, and in the beginning of 2013 it was really difficult to communicate with my crew,” said Suàrez. “I feel like, in that first half of last year, we learned a lot together. I feel like I know them very well right now and they know me very well…all this communication is getting better and better and it’s why we closed very strong in 2013 and why we’ve opened the 2014 season the same way.”
Also helping is the visible and anecdotal ingenuity of his racecars. Warren, a seven-time driving champion at Langley Speedway, oversaw C.E. Falk’s early success at the same track and has continued to advise young short trackers, Suàrez included. Eyler’s setup and Suàrez’s driving line on Daytona’s battleground layout proved too daunting for any real competition during the 150-lap contest. Third-place finisher Brandon McReynolds noted that Suàrez’s No. 6 “rotated through the center (of the corners) better than anyone.”
After the two events, Suàrez and team hold an 18-point lead in the K&N East standings, but that might not be more important than the current soaring of his prospect stock in the eyes of interested Cup Series organizations.
McReynolds not feeling the need to overcompensate for lost time
A dying front master cylinder halted Brandon McReynolds’s progression through the field Sunday night at New Smyrna Speedway, robbing him of a chance to showcase the on-track abilities that his peers and potential bosses have rarely seen in the last five years.
At Daytona, nothing went wrong for McReynolds, a K&N West regular in 2014, who zipped from 19th to fifth in the first 80 laps and eventually finished third in what might have been the night’s most impressive showing.
McReynolds doing well in a racecar is nothing unusual – he earned a 3.875 PEER across four K&N East races last season, good enough to rank fourth overall in the division – but since competing full-time in UARA Late Models in 2009, his presence in NASCAR garages has mostly been one dressed in street clothes, not fire suits. At age 22 (he turns 23 in in May), he is an older Cup Series prospect in a division littered with teenagers, but he suggests his age isn’t causing him to overcompensate for lost time.
“I’m a big believer in quality versus quantity,” he said following the Daytona race. “I could go run Nationwide or go run in the Truck Series in a back marker deal, but I’m not going to. I’ve been spoiled enough to be in good situations and run part-time in the last couple of years and learned a lot. Sure, I’d really like to see what could have been if I’d run (a full schedule), but that’s that. I’m excited about this opportunity. We’re going to win some races this year.”
Competing in Bill McAnally Racing equipment for the entire K&N West season, McReynolds won’t have to choose between quality and quantity because he’ll get both. If his small sample size flashes can extrapolate into season-long success, it might serve as the catalyst for a break into one of NASCAR’s national series.
“Battle” ends in disappointment for Modified’s brightest youngsters
In the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour portion of the Battle at the Beach, two notable prospects with NASCAR development affiliations, Ryan Preece and Kyle Benjamin, had nights about which they’ll be thrilled to forget.
Preece, the reigning Modified Tour champion, comfortably led 147 out of 150 laps with little difficulty – only a strong restart by Donny Lia forced Preece past his usual race pace – but contact with the lapped car of Dave Sapienza bent Preece’s left rear wheel, setting up a restart with four laps to go. Nursing a wounded car, Preece shuffled out of the lead before regrouping to finish fourth while Doug Coby held off a textbook bump-and-run attempt by Jason Myers to score the win.
Luckily, Preece has a full slate of Modified Tour events and two NASCAR Nationwide Series races with Tommy Baldwin Racing in which to make an impression for any fans he made with Tuesday’s dominant showing.
Benjamin, a 16-year-old Super Late Model regular who has also pocketed a pair of ARCA wins, made his Modified debut in Bono Manion’s No. 7NY. After qualifying 10th, a bent tie rod in the race took him out of contention on lap 106. Fortunately, several Mod veterans in the garage, which includes Manion, thought well of Benjamin’s acclimation to the car despite his abbreviated feature showing. His Roush Fenway Racing development affiliation means he’ll have more chances to showcase his mature skillset in front of national television audiences.
Prospect notebook
Lee Pulliam’s leap from the local tracks to races of the regional touring variety looked about as seamless as it possibly could when he earned a pair of fifth-place finishes at New Smyrna and Daytona in his first two races in the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 11. A two-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series champion, Pulliam’s mature pace – he was collected in a spin with fellow Hattori driver Dave Garbo, Jr. early in the Battle, but made up ground without the aid of the bumping that the 0.37-mile track typically sees – and ability to fare well on tracks he previously hasn’t seen (New Smyrna) or has rarely seen (Daytona) answers some initial questions for those unsure of his credentials as a driver. Now second in the K&N East points, he appears to be a serious contender for the division’s crown in his rookie season.
The noise from a third-place New Smyrna finish by Brandon Jones was suppressed when he failed to qualify for the Battle in his Turner Scott Motorsports entry. He arranged to drive Sam Hunt’s No. 18 car in the race, but could only muster a 24th-place finish. The rough start, after a scattershot six-race sample size in 2013 (and an average finish of 18.8), is disheartening for the 17-year-old driver who is looking to jump sooner rather than later into full-time Camping World Truck Series competition.
Brennan Newberry’s step back into the short track ranks is a necessary step considering his 0.52 crash frequency – just over a 50 percent chance to crash in a single race – was the highest among Camping World Truck Series regulars in 2013. His K&N East tour got off to a tepid start with a 13th-place finish at New Smyrna and a 22nd-place result at Daytona after spinning twice in the first 40 laps. The full-schedule slate mixed with a dozen Truck Series races will give him ample opportunity for repetitions, something he’ll need in order to kick the crashing habit that has become his major knock among industry decision-makers.
David Smith is the founder of Motorsports Analytics LLC and the creator of NASCAR statistics for projections, analysis and scouting. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidSmithMA.
Sources: David Smith/Motorsports Analytics