Daniel Suarez gets first win by passing Kyle Busch
Daniel Suarez has his first NASCAR win.
The Mexican-born driver passed teammate Kyle Busch over the final three miles of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Michigan to become the first Mexican driver to win a race in NASCAR’s top three national series.
Suarez, 24, semi-joked when he got to victory lane that he didn’t know what to say in either English or Spanish.
After running two Xfinity Series races and a Camping World Truck Series race in 2014, Suarez ran his first full season in the Xfinity Series last year for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also participated in 13 Truck Series races and had 15 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes in those 46 events.
Given Suarez’s performance as a rookie in 2015 and JGR’s dominance in the Xfinity Series, a win didn’t seem out of the question in 2016. And he made it happen over the final 30 laps of the race as his car had long-run speed that others didn’t. Suarez came from outside the top five on the final restart and picked off cars one-by-one until he got to Busch’s back bumper. Busch had won four races already this season in NASCAR’s No. 2 series.
Before he had his full-time ride in the Xfinity Series, Suarez raced four seasons in the NASCAR Mexico Series. In 58 starts he had 10 wins, including five in 15 races in 2014.
Because of his home country, Suarez’s opinion was a sought-after one following NASCAR CEO Brian France’s presidential endorsement of Donald Trump. When he was asked about the endorsement, Suarez responded that he was in NASCAR and “not in Brian France whatever.“
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
