AVONDALE, Ariz. – Daniel Suarez quietly earned his first top-10 finish of the season in Sunday afternoon’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, but it capped off a strong day for the Joe Gibbs Racing organization in the Sonoran Desert.
The 2016 Xfinity Series champion qualified 15th on Friday afternoon, but as the race progressed through 312 laps, Suarez was able to mount a strong charge from the back, especially after finishing 21st and 18th in the first two stages.
The Monterrey, Mexico native nearly avoided disaster on pit road during a Lap 191 caution after he made contact with fellow JGR teammate and rookie Erik Jones.
Restarting inside the top-10, Suarez would hover between in the back half of the top-10 until he pitted on Lap 257 for four tires, fuel and no adjustments. With a balanced No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, Suarez was able to quickly climb back inside the top-10 and fended off Jones to the checkered flag to finish eighth.
“We didn’t have a winning car, but we had a good, solid top-10 car all race long,” offered Suarez. “We made a couple of mistakes there with adjustments and on pit road, but we were able to overcome. Those mistakes were early in the race that we were able to overcome.”
The finish was Suarez’s first top-10 finish since last fall at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he finished sixth.
Suarez said he was excited about the team’s efforts Sunday and the energy they have heading to Auto Club Speedway on Mar. 18.
“I am just excited,” added Suarez. “We really needed something like this. We have had fast racecars and have had some issues and bad luck and stuff like that. Finally, we were able to make it work.”
Ironically, ISM Raceway was Suarez’s first career top-10 finish in Cup last year with a seventh-place result. A week later, it was more of the same with a seventh-place showing at the two-mile oval in California.
After four races, Suarez gained five spots in the Cup standings and sits 22nd.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
