Battle at the Beach: Daniel Suarez Takes the Win at Daytona

Daniel Suarez takes it two-for-two tonight in the Battle at the Beach at the Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this season. Suarez led a total of a 119 of 150 laps to capture his second victory in the series this season. Suarez, from Monterrey, Mexico, became the first driver from the country to win a race at the hostoric track. He leaves Daytona with a 18 point lead over Lee Pulliam after two races in 2014.

Austin Hill scored his second career top-10 finish in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series this evening by coming home in the second position. Hill started the event from the second spot but could never catch the strong car of Daniel Suarez. He was 0.596 seconds behind the race winner when the checkers flown to end the race.

Brandon McReynolds scored his third top-five finish this evening by driving his No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota home to a third place finish. McReynolds was one of the cleanest drivers all evening long battling up front with Suarez at one point. He did not get a great qualifying effort that was 19th fastest, but once when the race started, McReynolds was able to chew his way to the front to capture his eighth top-10 finish.

Ben Rhodes night started off great after qualifying on his first ever NASCAR K&N Pro Series East pole, but later on got into an incident that heavily damaged his No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet, and Rhodes went on to a disapointing 15th place finish out of 26 cars. Tonight was the second time of his NASCAR K&N Pro Series career that he started a race inside the top-10.

See below for the full race results:

Fin
Str
Car
Driver
Team
Laps
Points
B/Points
Status
1
6
6
Daniel Suarez
Sunoco Racing Fuel Toyota
150
48
5
Running
2
2
22
Austin Hill *
A&D Welding Ford
150
42
 
Running
3
19
16
Brandon McReynolds
NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
150
41
 
Running
4
11
15
Nick Drake *
NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
150
40
 
Running
5
9
11
Lee Pulliam *
Don Valley North Toyota
150
39
 
Running
6
10
96
Kenzie Ruston
Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet
150
38
 
Running
7
3
20
Gray Gaulding
Krispy Kreme Chevrolet
150
38
1
Running
8
18
99
Patrick Staropoli *
PEAK Toyota
150
36
 
Running
9
12
34
Scott Heckert
Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet
150
35
 
Running
10
21
31
Kaz Grala *
OzLINK Chevrolet
150
34
 
Running
11
15
46
Brandon Gdovic
American Messaging/Windstax.com Toyota
150
33
 
Running
12
23
97
Jesse Little
Vanacore Homes/NTI Chevrolet
150
32
 
Running
13
17
4
Sergio Pena
UTI/NASCAR Technical Institute Toyota
150
31
 
Running
14
13
98
Cameron Hayley
Cabinets by Hayley Chevrolet
150
30
 
Running
15
1
41
Ben Rhodes *
Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet
150
29
 
Running
16
14
42
Jay Beasley *
Toyota Racing Development Toyota
150
28
 
Running
17
20
21
Mackena Bell
Special Smiles Toyota
149
27
 
Running
18
7
43
Brodie Kostecki *
Arcoplate Toyota
148
26
 
Running
19
22
71
Eddie MacDonald
Grimm Contracting Chevrolet
148
25
 
Running
20
16
2
Ryan Gifford
Toyota Racing Development Toyota
147
24
 
Running
21
8
1
David Garbo, Jr. *
Garbo Lobster Toyota
145
23
 
Running
22
5
24
Brennan Newberry
Qore24 Chevrolet
143
22
 
Running
23
4
4
Ronnie Bassett, Jr. *
Butler Trailer Mfg. Toyota
143
21
 
Running
24
26
18
Brandon Jones
Paragon Energy Holdings Toyota
143
20
 
Running
25
25
55
Jerry Dawson *
EXIT Realty Chevrolet
81
19
 
Accident
26
24
89
Cory Joyce
Kyros Ent Chevrolet
74
18
 
Brakes

RACE STATISTICS Fastest Qualifier: Ben Rhodes *, Time: 18.589 Seconds, Speed: 71.655 mph Failed To Qualify: Clint King (07), Beto Monteiro (12), Nathan Russell (75), Brandon Jones (33) (Jones replace Sam Hunt in No.18 due to illness) Time of Race: 1 hrs., 9 mins, 12 secs     Average Speed: 48.121 mph     Margin of Victory: .596 Seconds Caution Flags: Laps 11-16; 40-44; 56-61; 64-72; 85-92; 94-100; 130-136; 140-145.  8 for 54 laps. Lap Leaders: Ben Rhodes (grid), Gray Gaulding 1-31, Daniel Suarez 32-150. Total Laps Led: Daniel Suarez 119, Gray Gaulding 31.  1 changes involving 2 drivers.

Brett Winningham
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