INDIANAPOLIS — “We win as a team and lose as a team,” Daniel Suarez boasted after finishing a disappointing third in Sunday’s Verizon 200. Suarez took a much more measured approach because he could be fuming mad at the moment. The Trackhouse Racing driver entered pit lane for the final time of the race on Lap 49 in second. He was right on Michael McDowell’s bumped as he, McDowell and Chase Elliott each hit pit lane together.

That was the moment of the race.

“The guys brought a very fast race car,” Suarez said. “I felt that maybe we were one adjustment behind in the first run with the back of the car, but then we made it a little bit better.

“But I felt like I was always one step behind the 9 and the 34, and then at the end, I felt that when my car came alive again, we had that issue.”

Suarez’ team struggled on that stop which took him from second to third but over 9 seconds back. He’d make up 4 seconds in the final stint but it didn’t make much of a difference.

He’d still finish third.

“Just a little bit heartbreaking, but that’s part of the sport,” Suarez continued. “All we can do is continue to push, continue to build race cars like this, and I’ll keep on winning races.”

Due to McDowell winning, it took Suarez from -5 entering to -28 leaving.

It basically eliminates all the points he made up on Monday in Michigan. Suarez went from -34 to -3 a week ago. That’s a 31-point gain in Michigan put him back in striking distance. So did his pole on Saturday. So did scoring the second most points all day with 51. He was 2nd in Stage 1 and 3rd in Stage 2.

It was all now for not.

The thing is, he does have momentum in regards to finishes as this was his third top six finish since Atlanta. He finished fifth last year in Watkins Glen, the site of next Sunday’s race too.

“Definitely we can perform I think even better,” he said. “I felt like yesterday we were very strong, and today we were strong. We were lacking a little bit. I didn’t like my first half of the race. But I’m pretty sure we’re going to go back, analyze everything, and come back stronger next week.”

He showed in Michigan that he can make up that much ground.