Spire Motorsports Richmond NASCAR Cup Series Race Report 2026

Daniel Suárez was the highest-finishing Spire Motorsports driver with a 16th-place result in Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Michael McDowell earned a 28th-place finish, while mechanical issues relegated Carson Hocevar to 37th. Hocevar and Suárez sit 11th and 13th, respectively, in the championship point standings with two races remaining before The Chase field is set. McDowell is scored 21st following Richmond.

Suárez lined up 20th in the No. 7 UHP Chevrolet for the start of Saturday's event. He maintained his position inside the top 20 throughout the 400-lap race while battling a mixed bag of balance. After falling two laps down to the leaders following the final green-flag pit cycle, Suárez recovered to a 16th-place finish, one lap down, earning his 19th top-20 finish in 23 races this season. McDowell started 26th in the No. 71 Workforce OHSS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. He was able to make his way to 21st with a free-handling car and lengthy green-flag runs before a Lap-285 caution following green-flag pit stops trapped him two laps down to the leaders. A 108-lap green-flag run to the end hindered McDowell's ability to gain back his track position before the checkered flag. Hocevar and the No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group team started 22nd and struggled with a severe lack of grip and quick tire fall off early in the race. Despite some progress with handling late in Stage 2, the 23-year old driver suffered a mechanical issue following the first green-flag stop in the Final Stage and was forced to the garage. The team was unable to get the Zeigler machine back on track, resulting in a 37th-place finish.

The NASCAR Cup Series next travels to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 23. The Dollar Tree 301 will be broadcast live on USA beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 25th of 36 points-paying races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

“We started a bit behind after qualifying and had to fight for track position all race. The UHP Chevrolet was better on the short run, but we fought some handling issues as the runs went on, which made it difficult to keep moving forward. We got two laps down late in the race, but we kept working and were able to recover one of them. We executed the best we could and never stopped fighting.”

“We had the long-run pace in our Workforce OHSS Chevrolet Camaro, it just seems like another one of those weekends when once we were starting to make gains and creep into the top 15, we would have something set us back. It’s frustrating, but a part of racing, especially at Richmond where the tire life is so short and you’re on pit road frequently. Any caution during a green-flag cycle can put you in a hole. I’m proud of the effort, proud of the fight. One weekend things will fall our way and we will capitalize, but unfortunately it wasn’t this weekend in Richmond.” 

“Really unfortunate end to a really tough night for the No. 77 Zeigler team. We were hoping to salvage a decent finish with pit strategy in the last stage, but we had some mechanical issues the team will have to take a look at. I hate it for the guys, Chevy, and everyone at Spire. Hopefully we can turn this all around the next two weeks and bridge the points gap.”

About Spire Motorsports …

Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado its first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 24, 2026, when Daniel Suárez took the checkered flag in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. 

In 2026, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization will also field the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.

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