HOMESTEAD, Fla. – 2016 will be a year Daniel Suarez will never forget.
After winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year last year en route to a fifth-place championship finish, Suarez entered his sophomore season looking to accomplish more.
A lot more.
On Saturday afternoon, Suarez did a lot more than just winning the season-finale Ford EcoBoost 300, he became the first foreign born driver to win a NASCAR National Series championship, leading a race-high 133 laps.
A caution eight laps from the finish launched a three lap – four car shootout for the championship.
Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Justin Allgaier and Erik Jones all were within grasp of the grand prize.
However, race leader Cole Whitt stumbled on the restart, allowing Sadler and Suarez to escape away from the ensuing chaos behind and settle the race win and the series’ crown between themselves.
Suarez cleared Sadler off Turn 2 and never looked back.
With his third win of 2016, Suarez became the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program to win a NASCAR XFINITY Series race and just three years since beginning his first full foray in NASCAR with a stint in the regional NASCAR K&N Pro Series East division.
“I’m just so happy for my team, so happy for my family who is here and a lot of friends, the sponsors – ARRIS, Interstate Batteries, Juniper, DeWALT, Coca-Cola, Toyota – everyone who has helped for this to happen and to be here right now.
“I just love NASCAR. When I was racing all over the world with TelMex Racing and they told me about NASCAR and thought I had the opportunity in stock car racing.”
The championship was a positive movement for not only the XFINITY Series, but the sport. Suarez quickly has become a fan-favorite and on Saturday, he extended his NASCAR Nation presence internationally traveling back to his home country of Mexico, where he is native of Monterrey, approximately 1,711 miles west of Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“It’s hard to believe,” said Suarez. “It’s hard to believe, but when you are part of an organization like Joe Gibbs Racing and you have a group of guys that let by Scott Graves, that obviously he’s a great champion, just two years in a row. He’s just really good.
“I’m just very proud to be part of this family, of this team. They’ve been like my family in the U.S. as you guys know, I don’t have any real family and my mom and dad in the U.S., so they are part of my American family. I just live a few miles from the shop, and I go there almost every day because I really enjoy to be there, and I learn a lot being there, learning about the car, learning about everything with Scott, and you know, just being more connected and building that chemistry.”
Suarez choked up during post-race celebrations describing how much Saturday’s XFINITY Series championship meant to him.
“It’s very hard to put into words. I’m speechless right now,” he said. “I’m just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have – my mom, my dad. They gave me all the tools to be here right now.
“They put me in a car even when we didn’t have the support or the racing background. They supported me and right now we are just living a dream.”
Suarez’s impact Saturday is likely to go greater than the XFINITY Series.
Soon, the personable 24-year-old will likely begin a career in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Joe Gibbs Racing, where he is not only expected to reach new career milestones, but contend to become the first ever Hispanic NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
