With just over 22 minutes left in qualifying, Daniel Suarez went out on track for his first flying lap in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Unfortunately, he never completed it as the car went off in Turn 11, slamming the barrier head-on.
The front of the car was completely destroyed, but Suarez was still able to back out of the barrier and limp back to the pits. He radioed to the team that he "locked the fronts" at corner entry.
UPDATE: Suarez went on to win the Xfinity race on Saturday
Suarez will have to go to a backup car and be forced to come from the rear of the field. And JRM has very little time to get the car ready with the Xfinity race set to get underway in just a few hours.
"I don't want to blame anyone," said Suarez after being checked and released from the infield care center. "I probably just trusted the car a little bit too much. In practice, I was having a long pedal. The brakes -- we weren't really sure if we were going try and fix it, start in the back or just try to go qualifying. I tried to brake like normal but the pedal just kept going down. Just very sorry for everyone at JR Motorsports. I probably just trusted it a little bit too much. The brakes were, for some reason, not 100%, but my bad. Hopefully, we can build another fast car. I think the car was pretty good."
Suarez went on to say that he has no worried about the backup car, believing that it will be "just as good" as the primary. Even still, it's a major setback at his home race after what has been an incredible week for him, constantly surrounded by fans and media.
Suarez is making his first Xfinity start of the year, but he has plenty of experience in these cars. He won the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, and has three race wins. His teammate Connor Zilisch earned pole position for the race, driving the No. 88 JRM Chevrolet.
