BRISTOL – No matter what languge you speak, Daniel Suarez’s runner-up finish in Saturday’s Drive To Stop Diabetes 300 can’t be overlooked.
Of course, Joey Logano became the first NASCAR XFINITY Series driver to lead wire-to-wire at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, but in his mirror, he had a fast rookie ready to strike if he made a mistake.
And while Logano was flawless on Saturday, Joe Gibbs Racing rookie driver Suarez also made a statement of his own.
Make no mistake, the former NASCAR Next driver proved that his patience is paying off, but he also proved that he looked more like a veteran rather than an inexperienced rookie at the 0.533-mile oval.
Hard to do at Bristol.
“I just can’t believe it. I can’t explain to you in words right now what I’m feeling in Spanish or English. I can’t thank enough my team – Joe Gibbs Racing, ARRIS, Toyota and everyone who makes this possible,” Suarez said with a gleaming smile. “This is unbelievable, this feeling.
“We work hard and sometimes it’s hard like last weekend in Texas – we were strong and hit the wall and finished 18th. Today we were fast all day long, and we ended up in the second spot, so
that’s great.”
Through the first seven races of the XFINITY Series season, Suarez has impressed. But in the two races where’s he admitted to mistakes, the following race, he’s proven that the advice given
hasn’t been taken for granted.
Looking every bit of a rookie in a rough start in the No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry at Daytona, the 23-year old made a mistake and ignited a wreck in qualifying, he later faltered on pit road and was later swept up in the Big One, finishing a disheartening 39th.
“To be honest, in Daytona I was kind of disappointed with myself because I was pretty off from everyone else,” Suarez said. “Just keep working and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing has been super good with me, having a lot of patience and supported me a lot in my rookie racing career.”
The advice paid off.
Suarez quickly rebounded and settled into his groove. A week later at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, the Monterey, Mexico native finished 14th.
From there, the name of the game was consistency.
A 10th at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway followed by an 11th at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway, 13th at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway looked positive for the rookie.
Then came Texas Motor Speedway.
After qualifying a career-best fourth, Suarez lost his patience and slipped into the wall, damaging his car, ultimately costing him a good finish. Suarez admitted to his mistake and vowed to make it up to his team.
Enter Bristol.
Delivering his fourth straight top-10 qualifying effort at one of the sport’s most demanding short tracks, Suarez methodically inched his way forward.
Disaster nearly struck on Lap 181 when Suarez was battling teammate Erik Jones when the two collided on the backstretch. A brilliant save by Suarez even caught NASCAR off by surprise as they waived the fifth caution of the race, speculating that Suarez would likely crash.
Instead, Suarez used the typical Bristol beating and banging mentality as motivation.
Through motivation, determination and a fast car, Suarez accelerated forward and when he muscled his way to second, he began to close the distance to Logano. While Suarez couldn’t challenge in the end, he did deliver his first career top-five finish.
More importantly though, the messages that the now Carolina native delivered post-race has kept reality in-check.
The highest finishing Mexican-born driver in the NASCAR XFINITY Series made it clear that his learning curve is still being carved.
“It’s just the learning process. Last year I was just racing in the NASCAR Mexico Series, and that is Late Models and I was racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, so it’s a big jump, and it’s a lot to learn about race tracks, about the racecar, about the team,” Suarez said on Saturday. “It’s been a long year so far – learning a lot and learning about the team and spending a lot of time at the shop.”
While some rookies would stumble in their attempt to win their first career NASCAR XFINITY Series race, Suarez wasn’t about to get ahead of himself. In reality, he kept the bigger picture in mind, finishing the race.
“We’re going to make a lot of mistakes, and if we can make that amount of mistakes smaller and smaller then we’re going to be better and better,” Suarez said. “The goal for us is to try to finish races and finish in the top-10 more often and more often. We can’t think about championships, we just need to think to improve and to learn and to finish in the top-10 every weekend.”
Nestled safely in the pipeline at Joe Gibbs Racing as one of the organization’s future stars, Suarez wasn’t initially considered a threat for the championship, but if he is able to keep the bigger picture in mind, series point’s leaders Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon may find themselves with some unexpected company.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
